Charm School: 18 Quilts from 5” Squares

Shuck the heels and peel the hose: this is not your grandmother’s charm school. Goertzen’s title pun springs from “charm packs,” a stack of 5” x 5” fabric squares used for quilting. Her “school” concerns quick and easy piecing for beginners and more experienced quilters. Goertzen, a pattern designer and founder of Lella Boutique, advises quilters to exploit charm packs, fat quarters (stacks of quarter-yard material), and scraps, and to customize charm packs. She focuses on the basics of beginning (selecting fabric, supplying tools, learning the language) over finishing touches (batting and basting). Mostly, she concentrates on the specifics of pattern assembly, organizing her patterns and projects by geometry: square, rectangle, corner triangles, half-square triangles, and quarter-square triangles. Her projects are accretive, and beginners can work up from the simple squares to the final chapter. Each project comes with a paragraph from Goertzen’s life and includes tips and measurements, photographs, and illustrations, all encouraging and playful. Goertzen invites her charm school pupils “to work in pajamas or jeans!” Color photos. (Mar.)