Would someone please explain to me (in terms you'd use to explain it to your sweet, cute, but hopelessly quilt-ignorant spouse) what a charm quilt is? I think I heard the term "charm" used to describe a particular small piece of fabric (akin to a jelly roll strip?) and it looks like some of the images may indeed be that - quilts made up of "charms" (but I don't know how big they are or are supposed to be or shape - is it standard?)
But it also appears (from images) that there may another kind/ definition of a charm quilt; is there, and what is that?
A charm quilt is one in which every piece is cut from a different fabric. Many charm quilts are made using one simple geometric shape (hexaxon, rectangle, triangle, etc), but not always.
Thanks for sharing the link, Bev. I do have to agree with Polly, though. Using scraps from your bin to make a charm quilt is sort of like pinching back flowering plants - they just seem to grow thicker and faster!
Hi Doc, I see you have been given a partial answer about charm quilts. It is from these types of quilts that "charm packs" have gotten their name. A few years ago Moda started offering die cut 5" samples of every fabric in a line as a "charm pack". There is one square of each of the fabrics in the line, thus they are charms. I think the idea was that it would give people a sample and let them see each of the fabrics, feel them and so on. There is a listing, in order, of the fabric numbers so that you can order more of which ever ones you want to buy. So it began as a marketing tool, especially for those that order fabric on line, but want to see the actual colors, feel the actual fabric before committing to a purchase of yardage. The concept seems to have taken on a life of its own, with patterns being developed just to use the packs. Other companies also started selling charm packs, although the size may be a bit different. Some are 5 1/2" some are closer to 6" and so forth. Then came requests for other sizes and thus the growth of the other types of charm packs. Some of which are not exactly charm collections because they may have more than one of a particular print..... because the number of charms in a charm pack varies with the number of fabrics in a line, but some of the other sets may all contain a certain number of pieces. (Moda "jelly rolls" have, if I remember correctly, 30 strips, so if a line has only 27 fabrics 3 will be repeated. If a line has 40 fabrics, not all will be represented. And so forth.) Different companies also call the same basic size by different names..... because of copyright/trademark/etc. issues. Moda's are all pastry related.... and can be found in the "Moda Bakeshop" groupings. Bali puts out 2 1/2" strips as "Bali Pops" and so forth.
You do pay a premium for the convenience of the precut sizes. If you figure the by-the-yard price of these goodies you may be shocked. And if you insist on prewashing, you will probably not end up with the same original size, because there may be a bit of shrinkage, not to mention raveling at all the cut edges. However, many people do not prewash, and are willing to pay to have some basic beginning cuts already made for them.
I know that many shops have, for an even longer time, cut shop leftovers into assortments of "charms" or "double charms" (2 of a fabric, because they cut through the folded width of the fabric). But it was the commercial appearance of "sample packs/charm packs" that really started the current trend.
Traditionally, charm quilts were made by collecting pieces of fabric from general sewing, and swapping with friends and so forth. One tradition was to for an unwed girl to make a charm quilt of xxx number of pieces. When the last piece was sewn in it "meant" that she was close to getting married, or would dream of her future husband or whatever. Some charm quilts were deliberately made with one fabric repeated (2 shapes of that fabric) and it became a game to find the duplicated fabric pieces. Charm quilts were often one shape quilts, such as tumblers, triangles (1000 Pyramids is an example) or other shapes.
This whole thing is a fascinating study in social and marketing areas.
Pati, in Phx who really didn't mean to write a treatise. On Jul 29, 6:26=A0am, "Dr. Zachary Smith" wrote:
That's really interesting Pati, thanks. I've ordered the 5 inch samples several times from Keepsake Quilting, just to "be sure" before I ordered yardage. I always felt compelled to use them, and I'd make little quilts for the cats (to keep so much cat hair off the sofa). I was thinking that the ones marketed as "charms" in fabric stores were a little pricey. I don't think I'd buy them for a whole quilt. Besides, I kind of enjoy the cutting process of quilting.
Hope that works better for you than it does for me. My furry friends love the quilts on the beds and sofa that are theirs, but only to burrow under, so they are between the sofa and their quilts! Best laid plans and all that! Gen
I've ordered the 5 inch samples several times from Keepsake Quilting, just to "be sure" before I ordered yardage. I always felt compelled to use them, and I'd make little quilts for the cats (to keep so much cat hair off the sofa).
Thanks for elucidating. Treatises are fine so long as they're as well written as this one. In fact, Usenet postings used to be called "articles" because that's exactly what they were. In the early days, the primary users of Usenet (Arpanet) were academics, scholars, and the military. It was an efficient way for researchers and intellectuals to disseminate their work to colleagues, and for those colleagues to discuss, critique, etc. the work both prior to and following official publication/release.
I'll stop here before this turns into a treatise... ;-)
and usenet(well here at any rate) has turned into a bunch of quilters who buy perfectly nice material in big pieces and chop it up into little pieces so they can sew them back into big pieces again. works for me. j.
"Dr. Zachary Smith" wrote... Hi Pati,
Thanks for elucidating. Treatises are fine so long as they're as well written as this one. In fact, Usenet postings used to be called "articles" because that's exactly what they were. In the early days, the primary users of Usenet (Arpanet) were academics, scholars, and the military. It was an efficient way for researchers and intellectuals to disseminate their work to colleagues, and for those colleagues to discuss, critique, etc. the work both prior to and following official publication/release.
I'll stop here before this turns into a treatise... ;-)
What, you never heard of designer concrete? (and yes, there is such a thing) Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - *some* of the most beautiful concrete work I've seen (*for it's application*) is in the expressways, interchanges, and sound baffling walls around the Phoenix area... designs, color, texture... There are even some designs that are quiltworthy/inspiring. Proof that those kinds of highway structures don't have to be eyesores, and since the darn things are meant to last decades, it makes sense, and the additional cost of making them timelessly beautiful (instead of the plug ugly stuff we have in the northeast) is really very minimal. But I semi-digress...
ewww, first time i encountered those sound walls on a freeway was on returning to california one trip. i was raised there and those walls made me claustrophobic, not something i'd ever experienced before. they were like a wind tunnel made me think what if some big oil tanker has an accident the flames would just continue on down that tunnel til they ran out of fuel or the cars stopped coming onto the freeway. ewwwwwwwww. nope dont see one damn thing nice about those, regardless of whatever some fool thinks will make them 'pretty'. ewwwwwwwww. i like soft things, not hard concrete. ewwwwww. j.
"Dr. Zachary Smith" wrote ... What, you never heard of designer concrete? (and yes, there is such a thing) Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - *some* of the most beautiful concrete work I've seen (*for it's application*) is in the expressways, interchanges, and sound baffling walls around the Phoenix area... designs, color, texture... There are even some designs that are quiltworthy/inspiring. Proof that those kinds of highway structures don't have to be eyesores, and since the darn things are meant to last decades, it makes sense, and the additional cost of making them timelessly beautiful (instead of the plug ugly stuff we have in the northeast) is really very minimal. But I semi-digress...
InspirePoint website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.