Charade Quilt Pattern - Printed Version

How Controlled Improv works

If you've made traditional quilt patterns, this one will feel a little different, in the best way. Controlled Improv patterns don't include a placement chart telling you where to put each color or block. You won't find "Fabric 3 goes here."

What you do get is a plan you can trust: clear cutting instructions, step-by-step block construction, and guidance on choosing colors and balancing lights and darks so your quilt flows. Then you get to play. You decide where each piece lands, and your quilt ends up uniquely yours.

If improv makes you a little nervous, you're in good company, and you don't have to figure it out alone. In HIVE+, you can get color and layout feedback from me, join a monthly LIVE where we practice controlled improv design together, and work through full companion courses for select patterns. You'll also get free shipping on every Jittery Wings order, all with a whole hive of color-loving quilters cheering you on. No quilt police, just process over perfection. 🐝

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This colorful improv quilt uses scraps of all sizes, Jelly Rolls, Fat Quarters, or even yardage. It uses a “controlled improv” method meaning that you will have a plan and boundaries to help it flow even if you feel improv is difficult.

Materials

Choose from solids, blenders, and small print fabrics that don’t include contrasting spots, lines, or objects. Each piece should read a single color after cut to size.

NOTES ON COLORS & FABRICS

1. A “Color” would be a light blue, or a dark blue, or a medium purple.

2. A Color Group is “all” Blues or “all” Purples. (ROY G BIV)

3. Pieces A-E cut from one “strip” come from a single fabric or “color” unless you are using scraps. You may need different fabrics to equal a single “color” when using scraps.

4. You may have all the ROY G BIV color groups in your quilt, or just Y (yellow) & G (green) as an example. If you only have Y & G you should have lights to darks for each color group.

5. Regardless of the number of color groups, you need a variety of lights and darks in your quilt.

****UPDATE NOTE ON CUTTING:

Start cutting each strip with piece E and work your way to A. If your fat quarter or yardage was cut a little short or made a little less than 44" you will only be missing a small piece A. I don't like waste, but also as a mostly scrap quilt, you can simply cut one additional strip of all A pieces and have enough. Solid fabrics that bleed through to both sides evenly often have solid selvages and you can use a smidge of that in a piece A.