Hello, my name is Amy, and I’m a fabri-holic.
I love beautiful fabric. And there is SO much available right now. For someone who doesn’t sew, or even know where to begin, walking into a fabric store can be overwhelming. I’ve worked in a little quilt shop Saturday afternoons for the past 5 years and I’ve seen many a lost soul want to start a project, but have no idea where to begin.
There is a fantastic little product introduced recently by the fabric company Moda to help you with this problem. Charm Packs.
Traditionally, a charm quilt is a quilt that has no fabric repeats. Charm Packs include a single, pre-cut swatch of every fabric in a particular designer’s collection. There are numerous styles and color schemes — something for everyone. They come in 5” squares, ready to pick-up and start sewing for only $8. If you want to make a scrappy baby quilt, but don’t want to invest in lots of different fabrics, this is for you. You can go here for an easy charm quilt tutorial.
In addition there are other pre-cut options such as Layer Cakes (forty 10” squares) and Jelly Rolls (forty 2.5” x 42”) strips, rolled together beautifully. Moda also has a Bake Shop blog full of free patterns and tutorials. And not just for quilts. There are rugs, baskets, banners, etc.
This collection is called Arcadia. Here is a sample of the variety of patterns and color in one charm pack. The quilt below was made entirely from a Charm Pack, Layer Cake and Jelly Roll, and about 2 yards of solid orange. I love that all the fabric coordinates and is ready to sew with minimal cutting and waste.
Here are some other suggestions for these precut collections:
Bean bags. My 5-year-old son LOVED helping with this project (he funneled the beans in). And then he loved promptly throwing them at everything he could find.
This hoop framed fabric art from the Purl is so cool. I saw it when I visited their shop last May and I’ve been collecting hoops from thrift stores since then to make my own.
The possibilities are endless. What are your suggestions?
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When I saw your title and the picture (I own all but one of the fabric lines in your first picture- Arcadia, the American Jane fabrics, and MoMo – I had to read on). I take my 7 year old daughter Elizabeth to a local quilt shop where she always snaps up multiple charm packs of the same fabric line. I love Lila Tuellar, Amy Butler, and the abovementioned. Lizzy avoids the Kansas Troubles and Civil War prints thank God. Just my personal preference – not a fan. My daughter has Down Syndrome, so her vocabulary is not as extensive as a typical 7 year old. But she can say fabric quite clearly and dramatically actually!! Anyway, she and I love to make a Memory game out of using charm packs. She gets so excited when she finds a match. I use that as my rationale for needing to buy multiple copies of charm packs of my favorite fabric lines!! A side note – when Lizzy asks for more fabric, Hobby Lobby, Jo-Ann’s or Hancock won’t do. At her young age and even with a devopmental disability, she understands what a real fabric store is and demands to go to a local quilt shop in Rochester, Illinois called peace-and-Applique.