Quick & Easy Quilt Block: Charm Squares with Edges

This project uses up old, muted charm squares that had been sitting unused on a shelf by giving each one a simple blackish edging. Starting with 5-inch squares, you sew on a 1 1/2-inch-by-5-inch strip along one side, then add a second 1 1/2-inch-by-6-inch strip on the adjacent side to form an L shape. After edging a stack of squares this way, you arrange them in a staggered layout by alternating the direction of the Ls, creating a more interesting, dynamic pattern than lining them up uniformly. It’s a quick, easy scrapbuster meant to turn forgotten fabric into something fresh and usable.

These are some old charm squares I had that I wasn’t using. They were just sitting on a shelf, so I decided to do something simple with them. I’m calling this “charm squares with an edge,” because that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re adding a little edging to give them some life. And don’t ask me what collection or fabric line they’re from, because I honestly don’t know. They’re old, and I still have a stack of charm squares from a few past collections.

The colors in this stack were really pale and muted. I’d never used them in projects because I’m usually drawn to more vibrant fabrics. But they were taking up space, and I kept thinking, how can I make these interesting? I need to use these up. This project is all about pulling out the old stuff that’s been hiding on your shelves and putting it to work. Each of these squares came from charm packs that were just sitting there doing nothing. I pulled them out of obscurity and decided to shine a little light on them.

What I did was add some edging, and it was very simple. A charm square, as you know, is a 5-inch square of fabric. Even if you don’t have charm squares, you can absolutely do this with old fabric. Just cut some 5-inch squares and use what you already have.

I originally wanted to edge all of these in solid black, but I ran out of black fabric too. So once again, I went to the shelf to see what had been sitting there forever, and I found this blackish print. Perfect. Let’s use that up as well.

Here’s the process. Start with your 5-inch square. Then cut a strip for the edging that is 1 1/2 inches wide and 5 inches long. Since the charm square is 5 inches, that first strip matches the length of one side. Sew it onto the square, stitch it down, and it looks like a neat little extension.

Next, you’ll add a second strip to form an L shape. This second strip is still 1 1/2 inches wide, but it should be 6 inches long. When I started this, I was experimenting with different lengths and forgot to trim one of mine down, so one strip in my sample is a bit off. Just ignore that and stick with 6 inches for the second piece. Sew it onto the adjacent side so your two strips meet at the corner, making that L. Once you’ve got that L, you’re in business. I did the same thing to all the other squares.

After that, you can arrange them a few different ways. You could line them up so the L shapes all face the same direction and form bigger squares, but that wasn’t interesting to me. Instead, I wanted to stagger them. If I see an L on one square, I want the next one to be an upside-down L, then keep shifting the orientation as I go. It creates a more playful, dynamic layout, and you can stagger them however you like. Sometimes I still have to refer back to my notes to remember exactly how I laid them out, but the beauty of this is that there’s no wrong way to do it.

This was so fast. Once I cut a bunch of the strips, I stitched this whole set together in about an hour. It really was that simple. I hope you’ll try it, even if only as a scrapbuster. We all love a good scrapbuster project, especially when it clears out those shelves and turns forgotten fabric into something fresh again.

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