One-Patch Quilts

Many popular quilts fall into this category – 1000 Pyramids, Hexagon, Tumbler, Honeycomb, Clamshell and Friendship Spools (aka Apple Core).

In earlier days many of these quilts were made using the English paper-piecing techniques and this was also the time of the scrap quilt.

Many quilters took \\'scrap\\' quilts to new heights and made what we now know as \\'charm\\' quilts. In charm quilts no two patches are from the same fabric and it could take two or three generations of quilters to complete a quilt.

It appears the making of Charm Quilts was a follow-on from the Victorian fad of collecting one-of-a-kind-buttons threaded onto a string.

Folklore goes that a young woman should have 999 buttons on her string, and number 1000 would be delivered to her by her ‘one true love'.

Charm Quilts were first made in the late 1800s, continuing over a period of about 30 years, and then the trend appears to have died out. In the 1930s and 1940s there was a general revival in quilt making, and once again quilters recognised the appeal of Charm Quilts.

The resurgence in the popularity of One-Patch quilts is also attributed to the Kansas City Star who, in 1930, published information and patterns on several Charm Quilts.

The ease of the One-Patch quilt is its most endearing quality – only one template is required. This makes it very transportable and (for most patterns) you don\\'t require a great deal of space to be laying out your work in order to start stitching the pieces together.

Friendship Spools and 1000 Pyramids are two patterns that require no specific laying out instructions and these two favourites make regular appearances at show-and-tells both here and at overseas' guild meetings. Scrap or Charm quilts are enjoyed by today's quilters for much the same reasons as our forebearers. 

Pick up the August Issue of Down Under Quilts from your local newsagent to findout everything you need to know about One-Patch Quilts.