Charm School: 18 Quilts from 5" Squares: A Beginner's Guide

by Vanessa Goertzen

“These cheery quilts demonstrate the versatility of charm squares and will inspire quilters to make use of these popular precuts.” —Library Journal Mind your Ps and Qs . . . precuts and quilt blocks, that is! Popular designer Vanessa Goertzen puts charm squares to the test with 18 projects using precut 5” x 5” squares. Start with fresh, beginner-friendly patterns and build your skills to sew snowballs, stars, flying geese, and more. Using precuts from your stash or your own charms cut from scraps or yardage, you’ll learn tips to take the guesswork out of piecing. Modern and traditional quilters alike will fall in love with these quick, clever, and clean designs!“This book will certainly appeal to any scrap lover! You can use precuts or ‘shop’ your stash to create your own collection of five inch blocks—it is a revelation to see the variety of patterns than can be made from this starting point . . . It truly is a book you would want to give a beginner, but the quilts are so lovely that even more experienced quilters will want to make them.” —Down Under Quilts“An excellent way to begin quilting or to use charm packs.” —yarnsandfabrics.co.uk“You’ll learn how to transform the simple squares into Snowballs, Stars, Flying Geese, and more. This book, featuring both traditional and modern patterns, is a must-have for precut collectors.” —American Patchwork & Quilting

Genres: Quilting, Crafts, Nonfiction, Sewing

252 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 30, 2021

Reviews

[Matal “The Mischling Princess” Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading “Charm School: 18 Quilts from 5" Squares: A Beginner's Guide” by Vanessa Goertzen brought back a flood of memories. When I first started quilting, charm packs didn’t exist. In fact the only precuts that existed were fat quarters—and they were expensive! When fabric companies began rolling out precuts as charm squares (5” squares), layer cakes (10” squares), jelly rolls (2.5” strips), and fat eighths, I was ecstatic. And when they more recently began offering Honey Buns (1.5” strips) and Mini Charm Packs (2.5 squares), I was (and remain) in complete awe.

I love how Goertzen included a chart showing how many 5” squares you can cut from a number of different precuts as well as from various lengths of yardage. The author’s instructions were clear and she included numerous methods like Disappearing Four Patch, Snow Ball, Flying Geese, Half Square Triangles (HST), Quarter Square Triangles using precuts. I especially appreciate how the author incorporated a fat quarter cutting guide. The full color line drawings were excellent and the inclusion of full color photographs of each quilt was superb.

I was a little befuddled when I first began reading this book because the author didn’t include a Table of Contents which is something that really should appear in all non-fiction. Overall, this is a great book for beginners and an excellent book for more established sewers to use for quilt dreaming.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although well written I just didn’t find any of the quilts that attractive. If you are a collector of charm packs I’m sure this book would be helpful but several of the quilts required 2-3 packs (one needed 14 mini packs!) which I don’t find to be an effective use of my quilting dollars.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own quite a few quilting books, but few inspire me like this one does. I confess that if I hate the fabrics shown in a given quilt pattern, it's hard for me to visualize anything. But in this "charming" tutorial, I can visualize great results. Author, author! Love Lella Boutique and Vanessa Goertzen.

[Estela · Rating 5 out of 5]

In spite of the title suggesting that these quilts are made with 5-inch squares of fabric (often gathered together by collection into sets called Charm packs), she provides cutting instructions for fat quarters, 10-inch squares, and yardage... so there is no reason to be limited to the charm packs. She also has cutting instructions for using your scrap collection.
There are several quilts within this book that just screamed for scraps to be used, such as Snowfall and Scrap Happy.
The cutting instructions as well as the construction guides are easy to understand and follow. I think within this book of 18 quilts, there is only one I won't make, but the other 17 are definitely my style and I look forward to constructing each of those.

[Jenny K · Rating 4 out of 5]

The focus of this book is making quilts from 5” squares, which you can buy in charm packs or cut from larger pieces of fabric. This is a size of cut I like to use and liked many of the patterns in this book. I would make almost all of these projects but particularly liked the patterns cat’s cradle and hoodwink.

[Maimie T. Abrego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great pattern choices

I like the instructions give me choices to use fat quarters. I like scrappy quilts, but I am more drawn to less variety in my fabrics in my quilts. Pretty simple patterns.

[Amber Rinaldi · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the written instructions may be a little confusing for a beginner, the pictures more than make up for their convolution. The patterns and very short stories to accompany them are absolutely wonderful. ❤️

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been inspired to go through my stash and trim everything down to usable sizes - 2.5" strips, 5" squares, etc. Whether or not I actually do this is TBD.

[Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wealth of ideas complete with the instructions for making each design!

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, with clear instructions. Nothing too complicated and the quilts are a wide variety

[Jeanne Loudin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one, definitely!

I have already marked these patterns in the order I want to start each one! Now to dig into my stash and get started!

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to make nearly everything in this one, but I absolutely *love* Chandelier and Lunchbox!!

[flying60 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great charm quilts

The patterns start out simple and slowly get more complex. Good book for beginners and complex enough for more advanced quilters.

[Tisha (IG: Bluestocking629) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so very happy to own this book.


~ Beautiful photos and clear illustrations.
~ Easy to follow directions.
~ Charm packs are not needed. Measurements/ cutting directions are also included for scrap fabric as well as other fabric pack sizes.
~ I found eight out of 18 that I would love to make right now. And perhaps after my confidence level increases I’ll make the others.
~ Make sure to read the opening paragraph for each quilt. The author treats us to a mini auto-biography...And even a reference to the movie the Princess Bride!

[Sara Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is high on my wishlist for my personal collection. Of the 18 quilts included, 16 gave me the "make me now!" love-at-first-sight quilter's heart flutter. The author includes very helpful hints, diagrams, and cutting tips with each section of the book. The images are excellent - both photographs and illustrations. I could easily come back to this book again and again whenever I have scraps to use up.

[Alicia Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was colorful, playful, and thoroughly inspiring. I liked the range of patterns and techniques, plus all of these patterns fit with my new way of handling scraps too! I like how the book was sectioned per technique and I liked her cute intros for each quilt. Very nice. I'll have to own this one!

For: quilters who want an array of patterns using 5" squares.

Red flags: some readers may find the patterns too modern or too complicated, depending on patience and skill level.

[Rachel B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I liked 6/18 projects, and that's huge for me! Vanessa has good balance in her quilts, with enough negative space. Some of the instructions, however, were a little confusing and the diagrams didn't help all that much.

[Maggie Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish there had been more creative or out of the box use of scraps. This was a good start to how to use smaller bundles of fabric in blocks or combine to create full quilts. However, not much of it was anything I hadn't seen before.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of neat patterns for quilts in here.

[Caren Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creating quilts always benefits from inspiration books and this book is filled with wonderful ideas. Great for all levels of quilting expertise!

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

These Lella Botique fabrics are very enticing!

[Jonii · Rating 5 out of 5]

The projects were nice looking, the instructions were clear, and there are lots of pretty photos to keep you motivated to make them.

[LaDawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun book! I loved the format and the little introductions to reach quilt and each section.

There are several off these quilts I want to make!