Truthfully, if you find yourself making a lot of equilateral triangles, you may want to invest in this ruler. In other words, the 6-inch triangle I just cut out exactly on the six-inch markings on the ruler already has the ¼-inch seam allowances already built into the ruler. If, at this point, you’re wondering about seam allowances, most specialty triangle rulers already have that built into them. We will work a little more with those 45-degree angles in a bit, but for right now let’s move on to that 60-degree angle, which looks like this: You know how to cut these and you know how to draw these. Two of these angles you’ve already worked with – the 90-degree angle and the 45-degree angle. There are some exceptions, but since in this blog we’re only working with diamonds and triangles, we’ll stick with these three angles. In quilting, generally we use 60-, 90-, and 45-degree angles. Tri- comes from Greek and Latin roots meaning “three.” So, the word triangle literally means three angles. And from this study of angles, we begin to understand triangles. But first, let’s go back to geometry class. You can cut angles all day long, and they’ll be accurate and beautiful. Chances are, even if your quilting supplies are limited, you have a ruler with these lines: I would much rather take the time to teach you how to use what you already have. See why I consider them a waste of money? Unless every other quilt you’re making is one of those designs, chances are good those rulers will sit in your studio and gather dust. But you know the only thing you can make with each? A Lemoyne Star or a Hunter’s Star. There are rulers out there specifically for the Lemoyne Star. Specialty rulers, as a whole, are rulers geared for one purpose and one purpose only. I’ve gotten my money’s worth several times over out of each. The two I mentioned I feel are worth every red cent because I use them all the time. Unless it’s a specialty ruler I use nearly every day, such as Eleanor Burns Square Up Triangle Ruler or Creative Grids 60/90 ruler, I don’t purchase them. Quite frankly, I consider them a waste of money. I don’t – for the most part – buy specialty rulers. So, I learned how to cut the units out with a rotary cutter.Īt this point, let me drop in a little personal quilting philosophy: I can count on one had the times I’ve made a Hunter’s Star or Lemoyne Star quilt and have fingers left over. I make too many types of blocks to justify the investment. Templates are wonderful things to have, and if you find yourself repeatedly cutting out the same non-square block unit, you may want to invest in a good set. I taught you how to sew the units together, but threw out two different ways of cutting out the diamonds: rotary cutting or templates. When we constructed the Lemoyne Star block a few blogs ago, we were working with diamonds. When we talk about units within those blocks, we also tend to think about squares, but add in half-square triangles, rectangles, and triangles (you know… the big triangle in a flying geese unit). When we think about quilt blocks, generally we think about squares. The other question.Hang with me on this blog and I’ll explain. Is it just because I'm a lefty that I'm struggling? Or is it really that hard with a long ruler and I should hunt for a ruler that will do the work for me? Should look like this, according to the pattern: So, I tried, and I can make the first triangle (I marked the fabric rather than cutting to start with) but the subsequent triangles are really difficult for me to do. I went yesterday over to one of my local quilt shops to see if they could help me out as earlier this summer I had asked about rulers at another shop and the gal there said that I should be able to cut 45 degree angles with ANY long ruler with the lines marked on it. I do have a 6.5x24" ruler that has 45 degree lines on it. Here's my problem, I'm a lefty AND I don't have a 45 degree triangle ruler that will cut a triangle that is 7" high. For reference, the finished quilt looks like this Rowan Kaffe Fassett Classics Funky Stripes Quilt on Craftsy Supplies! I have most of the strip sets sewn, but I decided to try to figure out how to cut out the triangles needed. Hi, I'm working on my Kaffe Fassett Funky Stripes quilt.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |