How Do You Do? An Introduction to Charm School

Do you remember ads for Charm School when you were a kid?  I know that dates me but department stores had classes where girls could go to learn the fine art of etiquette and how to be gracious.  Times have changed and so have a lot of definitions.  Here at Sew It Up Studio we are starting are own Charm School where we will learn the fine art of using charm squares and how to take those small pieces of fabric and turn them into something wonderful.

A charm square can be defined as a 5 inch square of fabric.  Traditionally quilters would trade squares with friends and end up with a lot of different fabrics and then sew the squares into a scrap quilt.   A while back the fabric company Moda came up with the idea of putting all of the fabrics that go together from one collection into a set of 5” squares and called it a Charm pack.  Every charm pack from Moda has 42 precut squares that go together perfectly.

For a long time I would see charm packs and think they were beautiful but I never bought any, about a year ago I purchased one for the first time and I took it home and I looked at all of the prints I got and I realized that charm packs are like candy with no calories.  For the price of a yard of fabric I was able to take home every piece from a collection and I could touch them, dream about them, and feel like a rich woman.

That is how it remained until I saw the book 3 Times the Charm, I was finally able to give up one of my packs and make a project.  I was so pleased with it that I designed my own quilt using the Ruby Charm pack.  Now I look at quilts and the first thought I have is how can I make that with a Charm pack!
 

I am  excited to be hosting Charm School at Sew It Up Studio.  Each month we will explore a new project using a Charm Pack.  If you are in the Dallas/Ft Worth area please join us on Saturday Sept 8 for our first free demo at 10:00 am. This will be an introduction and demonstration of the quilt I made with the Cape Ann Charm Pack.  Each month we will have a demo followed by a workshop where you can start making your charm pack project right away.