I decided it was time to finally begin my mini charm square quilt! Although I haven’t finished the quilt top yet, I did make some good progress on it this weekend. Precuts are awesome for when you just want to sew & sew & sew! I’ll give you some tips on how to whip up the squares in no time flat.
Mini Charm Squares
Some may be wondering what a mini charm square is. Well, it’s a stack of precut fabric that’s 2.5″ square. It’s like a tasty little fabric snack of a fabric line! You can find them at some fabric stores & quilt shops, but the Fat Quarter Shop seems to have the biggest selection. They even have a Mini Charm Pack Club which I was a member of & is also the reason I have so many mini charm squares!
Some people may look at this little shoe box of fabric & think it’s just scraps, but I see a quilt top! There are 29 mini charm packs in there, each one has 42 squares, & each one will make a 12.5″ x 12.5″ quilt block with some to spare. : D
To do this, I just opened the pack & laid out each square in order. Any duplicates got put to the side. I want a square, so I’ll need to eliminate 6 altogether so I can have a 6 x 6 layout.
Here it is after I’ve pulled the 6 extras out…
Each pack has a different number of duplicates, it really just depends on the number of prints in the line of fabric. Sometimes I had exactly 6 duplicates, sometimes I had more, & sometimes I had less. I’m keeping the extras to make some mixed blocks & get a bigger quilt.
You can mix them up if you want to, but I found it easier to just lay them out as they were in the pack. I did swap pieces if I had the same print next to each other & when I needed to pull extras out.
Time to Sew
To sew a block, I just fold over one row onto the other. It helps if you can do this next to your sewing machine, so you can just grab & sew. I also keep the seam edge on the right side because that’s where my machine is.
I usually start with the top, left piece & sew down the row. It’s just easier to remember what order they go in. These types of projects are also good for using up almost empty thread spools.
Once I have each row sewn, I lay them back out still connected in the row. Another trick to keep things in order! I’ve alternated the direction each block is laying so I can open them out & finger press the seams. This keeps the seams in opposite directions so I can nest them together when I sew the horizontal seam.
I keep all the rows connected throughout the whole thing so I can sew the horizontal rows without losing my pieces or the order of the rows. I can take the whole block to the sewing machine & fold over a row & sew!
One block done!
I decided to keep the label for each mini pack with it, so I remember the fabric line. These mini clothes pins are great for that!
That’s how you do it one by one, but I want to streamline this even more!
Sewing a Stack of Packs!
I opened up the 9 traditional packs I had & layered them right on top of each other! This is going to allow me to sew, sew, sew through these packs fairly quickly. I do plan on mixing these with my more modern & Christmas packs, but I’m starting with these.
For this, I folded over a row & sewed it, then went down through all the layers for that row. Then I stacked them back up & did the next row. Once they were all done, it was time to open them up & sew the rows together.
Time to sew the horizontal seam!
Just pay attention to which direction the seams are going so you don’t wind up with twisted seams like this. I sewed a whole row on all 9 blocks like this & it will just have to stay cause I’m not picking all that out!
All the blocks are done!
Here’s the stack after a good press & all labeled. I also put a different block on top, so you don’t have to keep seeing the same one!
That makes a total of 10, 12.5″ x 12.5″ blocks. Pretty good for an afternoon of sewing! I did the best I could to spread them all out so y’all could see. My workspace is in need of a major cleaning!
Here’s what’s left in the box…
I still have 19 packs plus the extras to work through. That “Ville Fleure” pack is missing some pieces I may have “permanently borrowed” for another project! The top right corner is filled with scraps I’ve cut up from other projects & one weird 3.5″ square pack. Do y’all know what that’s called??
Hopefully I’ll have this quilt top done before the end of the month. Then I’ll do a post about the layout & quilting it next month. See y’all next time! : D
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