I am delighted to be able to show you another block of the Old Block Quilt-Along today. The 27th block in this QAL is called “Charm Star”.

This version of a star patchwork block dates back to around 1930 and was published in a catalog by Aunt Martha / Colonial Ready Cut Quilt Block Company. The Aunt Martha company only lasted for a few years, but its idea of offering patchwork kits for entire quilts had its beginnings during this time! The company also held competitions to design patchwork blocks. The winning designs were then chosen and displayed in another catalog. 

Aunt Martha quilt pattern catalogs are still traded today: Example of the “Aunt Martha” catalog

You can browse an “Aunt Martha” catalog here: Internet archives / Aunt Martha

The “Charm Star” block is only slightly different from other star blocks, such as the “Ohio Star” from the “6 Heads 12 Blocks” Quilt-Along or other 8-point stars. In addition to the usual 8 star points, its particular feature is the circle formed around the large central block.

We are sewing the “Charm Star” patchwork block

“Charm Star” is a 10″ patchwork block (10.5″ including the seam allowance) that belongs to the category of “nine patch” blocks. It is worked using pattern templates.

Download the patchwork templates

For cutting out, I have created three PDF documents to download:

• The first is a coloring sheet. This allows you to try out colors and designs for this block to see what they look like.
• On the second PDF you will find the templates for the foundation paper piecing
• and on the third you will find the pattern templates.

On the PDF with the pattern templates, I have put a control square with a side length of 1 inch so that you can check whether your printout of the templates is the right size. It is important to set your print options to “Actual size”.

Here are the downloads:

coloring sheet “Charm Star”

templates “Charm Star”

Cutting out the pattern pieces

You will need to cut out the following quantities for each pattern piece:

• Template A: 4 x background fabric
• Template B: 4 x background fabric
• Template C: 8 x patterned fabric
• Template D: 1 x patterned fabric
• Template E: 8 x patterned fabric
• Template F: 8 x patterned fabric

Sewing the patchwork block 

As always, start by laying out your pattern pieces to get the overall picture of the block. We start this block by sewing the corners, consisting of piece E, onto the middle piece D. This gives you a square for the center of the patchwork block.

Now sew the 4 outer pieces to the points of the star. In each case, these are made up of a background piece B, two star points consisting of piece C, two (circle) pieces F and one piece E.

First, sew the pieces F onto the star points C.

Then sew the middle corner piece E onto one star point – and the background piece B onto the other star point.

Next, close the seam between the two star points. This results in the rectangle shown below. Repeat this step for the remaining 3 parts of the star.

Once you have attached all the pieces together as described, you can see why this block belongs to the category of “nine patch” blocks: the block consists of nine individual squares and rectangles.

First, sew together the individual segments for each row.

Then join the rows together.

And the 27th block of the Old Block Quilt-Along is now complete! I hope you enjoy sewing the block and you are happy with the beautiful result afterwards.

Post your block here in the Community area of the BERNINA blog, on Instagram or on Facebook – wherever you prefer to share your beautiful creations. Don’t forget to tag your picture on Instagram with the hashtag #BERNINAOldBlockSampler!

New here?

Have you only just discovered the quilt-along? No problem! You can join at any time. Registration is not required, and you can win a BERNINA 570 QE! All the posts will remain permanently available:

In the first post, which was the invitation to participate in the quilt-along, you will find the important initial information about our joint project:

Old Block Quilt-Along – who’s in?

You can find the rest of the blocks from the quilt-along that have already been published here:

Old Block Quilt-Along – overview of all the posts

Have fun with this block and I look forward to seeing you for the next one!

Until then,

Andrea