Metropolitan Fair Charm Pack: Free Pattern

The precut squares, fat quarters and strips of JellyRolls for Metropolitan Fair should be in shops. Here's a free pattern for a quilt made with the Charm Squares, the 5" square precuts.

Mince Pie

Slice your Moda Charm Packs into triangles. Reassemble.

It's Mince Pie.

Mince Pie was a dessert served at the Metropolitan Fair in 1864, traditional fare in any New England Kitchen

The New England Kitchen was a popular attraction

at that event that raised money for Union hospitals.

I know it's not really time for mince pie.

 But the Charm Packs are available now. They'll be hard to find in November.

The small scrappy quilt (38" x 46") above is made from 2 Moda Charm Packs.

You'll also need some extra yardage for the border- 1/2 yard.

The Block

We're using precut squares so we aren't going to worry about measuring. As in pie it's all about slicing.

I can't find this block in BlockBase anywhere---hard to believe no one ever published it with a name. I like Mince Pie.

Slice your two packs of charm squares (5" x 5") into 4 triangles with an X

to make 4 triangles from every Charm Square.

Cut all 84 squares up and mix and match on the design wall.


I'd piece 4 triangles into 4 larger triangles and then seam them together.

Concentrate your shading decisions on the X in the middle, contrasting the lights and darks here. When you set the blocks, rotate them so one X has a light shade at the top and the next has a dark shade at the top.

The 5" squares will give you a block that finishes to a little bit less than 8". It doesn't matter exactly how big it is because the blocks will all be the same size. You need 20 blocks set 4 by 5.

I used this stripe for the border, which finishes to 3". It's Number 8234-11. The print is called Jacob's Well, the color Celery Salad Green. (Celery Salad and Mince Pie---I'm not making up this menu.)

For the border cut
2 strips 3-1/2" x 40-1/2" for the sides.
2 strips 3-1/2" x 32-1/2". You'll probably trim these because the blocks are a little smaller than 8".

Here's my math---
You can get 168 triangles per Charm Pack (42 x 4).
Each block requires 16 triangles.
That means you get 10 and a half blocks per Charm Pack.
With two packs you get 21 blocks (set in as grid of 20= 4 x 5)
3 packs will give you 31 and a half blocks
4 packs= 42 blocks---Set these in a grid of 6x7 and the quilt without a border finishes to about 48" x 56"

The waiters are ready for the diners at the 1864 Fair in Philadelphia. 

From the Library of Congress

Read more about the Metropolitan Fair Civil War reproduction collection here

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2012/05/virtual-booth-at-quilt-market.html