Charm Clubs are a great way to gather a large number of different fabrics and make friends at the same time! You can join a club at your local quilt guild or start your own — all you need are a few other like minded individuals and a plan. Here are a few suggestions to help you get started:

1. Plan to meet monthly. Groups should number at least eight people to insure a good variety of fabrics. (You can get eight 5" squares from a 5" strip cut the width of the fabric or twelve 5" squares from one fat quarter. Choose one hostess or rotate the responsibility monthly.
   
   
2. Assign one color group (or more if you wish) per month. Choose a set number of fabrics to be exchanged (five is a good place to start). Each member of the exchange will buy (or choose from her stash) five different fabrics in the color group and cut squares from each for every member of the group. So if the exchange has eight members, each will receive a total of 40 different fabric squares each month (five charm squares from each member plus her own five fabrics).
   
   
3. Some suggested color groups:
   Reds, Oranges, Yellows, Greens, Blues, Purples, Browns, Blacks, Whites, Novelty prints and themes (animal, holiday, travel, etc)
   
   
4. Have members wash and press their fabrics and cut them accurately to size. This is important since some may want to use the squares as is rather than cut them. Request fabrics be packaged neatly in small plastic bags (sandwich bags are great) for easy distribution.
   
   
5. The hostess starts a pile for each participant and places one bag from each person in the pile. Each pile should have the same number of bags, each with different fabrics.
   
   
6. Have fun! This is a great way to build a charm collection. Make it an event with light refreshments and maybe even a little quilting.