Category Archives: Precuts

Charm Pack – Pepe in Paris

Leave a reply

I went back and finally finished the gluing and cutting and basting of this charm pack that Prim LOVED.  Picture time:

CP Pepe in Paris HPYou’ll see that I didn’t learn anything from last time: This “black” construction paper is a terrible background, so none of the colors are true.  It’s worse in the 1/2″ hexagon picture:

CP Pepe in Paris Small HPMy favorite has to be that tree in the upper right, which is unfortunately upside down in the picture.  My least favorite is the guy’s torso in the middle of the shot.  These prints didn’t work at all well for the 1/2″ hexagons, both since the patterns were too big and because they had too many colors in them to work with my I’m Not a Machine project.  Ah, well.  Live and learn.  Prim LOVES them.

Not pictured are the leftover 5″ x (mostly) 2.5″ strips which will eventually go into a scrappy coin quilt.  This charm pack was tied with a ribbon which went missing well before I had everything basted, let alone ready for their photos.

Did I mention that Prim LOVES this Pepe in Paris fabric?  (Yes, you did, HP, a bunch of times now.)  Well,  I got a yard each of the main print in pink and blue (I couldn’t find the white–my “local retailer” was all sold out, ages ago) for pillowcases.  He’s very excited about the idea.  I like this tutorial at Film in the Fridge for making fancy pillowcases with cuffs and NO RAW SEAMS!

I want to get started on them, but I need to finish a few other projects first, so they’ll have to wait a bit.

Charm Pack – Basics Lucky

Leave a reply

I got a little frustrated with mini charm (2.5″ squares) packs because the large patterns in a collection tend to be lost even on a 1″ hexagon while still not giving me much variety for my 1/2″ hexagons.  On the plus side, they’re cheap and even more so with my subscription to Fat Quarter Shop’s Moda Mini Charm Pack Club.  (And I got a bunch of them during a very good sale.)

CP Cotton Steel Basics Lucky HP

So I decided to try a charm (5″ squares) pack.  This is Basics Lucky from Cotton and Steel.  It’s a short stack (only seven designs), and the price was right when I came across it in my local quilt shop.

I realized that I could use those leftover 5″ by 2″ to 2.5″ (depending on how precisely I cut around the hexagons) rectangles for SCRAPPY COIN QUILTS!  Duh!  l love it!

It’s a little more work to cut up a charm pack like this, vs the mini charms where I only had to trim the corners off the fabric I lightly glued to the 1″ hexagons before I thread basted them.  Cutting around the 1/2″ hexagons is a bear either way.

It wasn’t too bad, but I’m still thinking about a die cutter if I’m going to make this a habit.

I also learned that “black” construction paper isn’t really black and it’s very spotty and needs lots of evening out in Photoshop.

1″ Hexagon Decisions

Leave a reply

I’ve been basting fabrics from mini charm packs (and now charm packs, too) around 1″ hexagon papers and 1/2″ hexagon papers.

The 1/2″ hexagons are destined for my ongoing rainbow project “I’m Not a Machine“.  The ones that don’t fit into the color scheme (and duplicates of the ones that do) are going to become some general, scrappy projects, likely small ones, along the lines of notebook covers or doll quilts.

But I didn’t have a plan for the 1” hexagons.  I was worried that the fabrics from the different lines wouldn’t play well together and I didn’t have enough of any one to make a sizable project.  My sewing relative (SR) said that they’d look fine together and that the more different fabric packs I used, the better they’d all blend.

Four Charm Pack Hexagons HPShe was totally right.  Even without mixing up the different fabric lines, they look good together, though the one on the right will look best mixed in.

This simplifies my storage and construction options considerably.  I’ve decided that after I’ve taken a picture of the basted 1″ hexagons from a particular pack, I’ll store them all in a bin together.

1in Hexagon Bin HPThe bin’s pretty tall, so I can shake it around before I pick out individual hexagons to add to a project.  What am I going to make?

Pillow covers for the couch!  We’re using pillowcases now, which are easy to clean when the kids get stuff on them, but they’re ugly and it’s like we’re living in a frat house.  The pillows are 16″ squares, so I’ll need about a hundred to cover each pillow.  (CD Designs has a pretty good tool for figuring out how many of whatever-sized hexagon you’ll need to fill a specific space.)  The backs will be solid (for napping), and I’ll use an invisible zipper to close.  I’m going to machine quilt these babies, too.

I’d like to have a lot more hexagons in the bin before I finish a pillow, but I might pull some out soon and start sewing them together.  I also need to look at my scraps and see what I can fussy-cut for interest.

I love having a plan!

Mini Charm Pack – From Outside In

Leave a reply

MCP From Outside In Spread HPA not-great picture of another mini charm pack basted onto 1/2″ and 1″ hexagons.  This one is From Outside In for Moda.  Only three repeated fabrics(!), which is great if you were sewing something big with the collection, but my focus is on the 1/2″ hexagons more than the 1″ hexagons.  As a matter of fact, I did the 1/2″ hexagons first and debated even doing the 1″ hexagons at all.

MCP From Outside In Stack HPI like the solids in the pack and I do like the “matchstick” repeated patterns which ended up on the 1/2″ hexagons, but this basting and photographing is starting to feel like work.  I need to decide on what I’m going to make with the 1″ hexagons before I do any more of them.

Mini Charm Pack – Fancy

Leave a reply

MCP Fancy Big HPI know I’ve been saying I love every mini charm pack I baste to hexagons, but I take it all back.  THIS is my favorite one so far.  Look at the 1″ hexagons all stacked up:

MCP Fancy Stack HPHow could you not love that?  And the repeated fabrics are bright and cheery and, more importantly, are tone-on-tone colors and so should fit easily into my ongoing 1/2″ hexagon project, I’m Not a Machine.  Go a load of this gorgeous rainbow of pattern:

MCP Fancy Spread HPAnd here they are basted onto 1/2″ hexagons, two from each 2.5″ square, in a shadowy nighttime picture:

MCP Fancy Small HPThat patterns look good big.  The patterns look good small.  Who could ask for anything more?

 

 

 

 

Black Friday Deal!

Leave a reply

I wasn’t going to buy any fabric this holiday season (ha), but Fat Quarter Shop had an Uh-Maz-Ing Black Friday sale.

Black Friday Sale HP

I got a book, three charm packs (5″ squares) and two mini charm packs (2.5″ squares) for TEN DOLLARS (plus $2 in shipping).  Two of those charm packs aren’t by Moda (Pepe in Paris for Riley Blake Designs and Rosewater for Free Spirit Fabrics), which I’ve been meaning to try out.

It was too good of a deal to pass up.  Tell me I’m wrong.  :P

Mini Charm Club

Leave a reply

I’ve still got my hexagon diamonds project (I’m not a Machine) on my mind, even though I’ve been working on Tiny Flower Garden.  In the interest of adding a variety of fabrics  to my tiny-hexagon stash, I decided to subscribe to Fat Quarter Shop’s Moda Mini Charm Pack Club.  I got my first shipment and I’m pretty excited about it:

FQS Mini Charm Pack Club Nov 2014 WM

I love how it’s packaged and I know my fabric will stay flat and clean until I use it.  This set is looking a little beige and drab and old-timey, but that’s nice sometimes, too.

The downsides are that only Moda fabric lines are included and that I won’t get any of those surprise old fabrics like when I beg or buy another sewer’s scraps.

Mini Charm Pack – Figures

Leave a reply

One more mini charm pack basted onto 1″ and 1/2″ hexagons.  This time, it’s Figures for Moda, which I love.

MCP Figures Big HP

Eight repeated patterns, so 34 unique patterns in the line.  1″ Hexagons, all spread out:

MCP Figures Big Spread HP 2

And the sixteen 1/2 hexagons in a dark, nighttime picture:

MCP Figures Small HP

I really like this fabric line, but these 1/2″ hexagons aren’t going to be too useful in my main hexagon project (“I’m Not a Machine”), I think, because two of them are mostly white and the dots have a lot of white background.  We’ll see, though.

Mini Charm Pack – One for You, One for Me

Leave a reply

MCP One for You One for Me Stack HP

I just love how stacks of basted hexagons look: so much color and promise.   Another mini charm pack (2 1/2″ squares) done.

As before, I used each fabric pattern on the 1″ hexagons and used all of the repeat fabrics to make two 1/2″ hexagons.  If the colors work out, one each of the 1/2″ hexagons will get added to my hexagon diamonds project, “I’m Not a Machine”, and the other will get added to the as-yet-unnamed scrappy small hexes project.  The 1″ hexagons will become…something.  Dunno yet.

MCP One for You One for Me Flat HPHere they are, all spread out.  This pack, “One for You, One for Me” had 28 patterns, with 14 repeated.  Honestly, I’m glad to see all of the repeats.  The tone-on-tone swirls will be perfect for “I’m Not a Machine”.  The dots might, too.

I’m a little disappointed at how the large-scale patterns get lost on the 1″ hexagons.  I mean, I expected that, but there’s something messy-looking about them.  I’m still going to use them, but maybe I need to look for mini charm packs with more repeats and/or more basic patterns?  I don’t even know how to do that, since the previews in the online stores just show the unique patterns and–duh, I just figured it out.  Count the patterns shown and subtract from 42, which seems to be the standard number of pieces in Moda charm packs.

Maybe the little bits of the bigger patterns will be charming in whatever I make the 1″ hexagons into?  I’ll just keep basting and see what I have and how they mix together when I have more.

Mini Charm Pack – Elementary

Leave a reply

I could not resist buying a mini charm pack (a package of precut 2 1/2″ squares from one fabric line) and seeing if I could use it for fabric variety instead of buying or begging more scraps.

MCP Elementary All HP
I basted one square of each different fabric in the pack to a 1″ hexagon (without trimming!) and each of the repeat squares to two 1/2″ hexagons.

MCP Elementary Big HP

I really, really like this fabric line, Elementary for Moda.  Moda mini charm packs seem to always have 42 squares.  This one has 32 patterns with 10 repeated.

I’m not sure what I’m going to use the 1″ hexagons for yet, though I’m thinking throw pillows.  I had the papers already, so it made sense to use them.  I doubt I’m going to feel confident enough anytime soon with my 1/4″ seaming to machine piece with 2 1/2″ squares, so it was either use the 1″ hexagon papers or put the fabric away.

I got a nice amount of 1/2″ hexes from the pack, one of each pattern for my hexagon diamonds (when they’re recognizable colors), and one for my “scrappy whatever” project.

MCP Eementary Small HPThis picture ended up super tall.  Sorry.

I’m pretty excited about using mini charm packs, since the repeated patterns are usually the more monochromatic ones, which will fit well into my hexagon diamonds project (I’m calling it “I’m Not a Machine”–I’ve gone back and tagged posts about it with that name).

It was also a lot of fun to baste the 1″ hexagons without trimming that squares.  I’ve heard that the added bulk is bad when it comes time to quilt, but we’ll see.  I’m thinking about getting a die cutter.  If I’m going to be doing a lot of EPP, trimming the fabric to size is already getting tedious, and I haven’t even done it too much yet.