Tsarasmom

This is my first post, but I have been an avid reader of this board for about two years. That's how long I have been a "quilter". I do however enjoy it even though my quilts are far from being as beautiful as the ones I've seen on here. Anyway, my ? Is- how do I buy fabric, by the yard,for a pattern that calls for charm packs? Thank you in advance for your help.

bearisgray

Some places will let you buy fabric by 1/6 of a yard - which is 6 inches.

Tsarasmom

Thank you. I never thought about that!

NanaCsews2

Generally there are about 56 charm squares in a yard of fabric. Google Elizabeth Hartman, she has a tutorial online on how to cut charms from a yard of fabric and fat quarters.

GingerK

First of all, Hi from a former Lurker, and welcome to the fold. Just a question, if the pattern calls for charm packs, why do you want to buy whole cloth? Buying charm packs will give you the variety that the pattern needs without the extra quantity.

Peckish

This is just a guess... not all quilt shops will carry all cuts of fabric. So, she may want a specific line of fabric, but can only find yardage of it. That seems to happen to me a LOT! Instead of ordering it online and paying for shipping, maybe she's simply buying yardage. Also, precuts tend to be more expensive.

Or maybe the pattern doesn't necessarily "need" variety. For instance, a d9p looks very nice with charms OR with yardage. I think a lot of times people write patterns for charm squares because that's what they have on hand, and quilters like them. The charms will give you a scrappy look, whereas yardage will give you a matchy quilt - depending on how many fabrics you use, of course.

Tsarasmom

My daughter wants a pinwheel quilt with Hello Kitty fabric. I've not been able to find charm packs of this. So I thought I would try this.

mighty

Maybe you could use the hello kitty fabric for a larger block like the snowball and surround it with pinwheel blocks that looks good with the hello kitty fabric.