Old Town Mystery, Part Seven!
Offering small workshops like this opens the opportunity to continue stitching on busses, in the hotel lobby in the evenings surrounded by conversation or even occupy the long hours of our flights home while reliving our memories of our time together over the miles and miles.
Cutting Quarter -square Triangles
Unlike having to cut 3 1/4’’ and 1 7/8’ squares as in the traditional rotary cutting method above, I used my Essential Triangle Tool to cut the quarter-square and half-square triangles from 1 1/2’’ strips.
1 1/2’’ strips are something I keep readily on hand so I can easily go to my strip stash and pull what I need.
To cut quarter-square triangles, place the first green line from the top (Look for the 1 1/2’’ strip width marking down the center in green) at the bottom edge of the strip with the green line ON coral fabric, not below it on the mat.
Trim 2 sides as shown. The upper tip of the ruler will extend above the top of the strip just a bit creating a flat spot at the top of the cut triangle. This flat spot becomes a placement guide.
Pivot the ruler, placing that first green line at the top of the strip, ON the fabric. Cut.
Cut from as many fabrics as desired for a scrap-happy mix of 80 quarter-square base triangles.
Place 2 neutral strips 1 1/2’’ with right sides together so you are cutting through two layers. Right sides together is needed as we are cutting in mirror image pairs.
Square off one end of the strip set.
Using the first red line for 1’’ finished half-square triangles, place the red line ON the fabric at the top of the strip set (Don’t place the line on the mat above the fabric or you will be one line width too small.) and make a cut.
Trimmed corner to trimmed corner!
All of the notched corners go at the top of the unit – the flat spot on the top of the base triangle becomes a placement guide.
Start with the right wing first!
Place the right wing triangle on top of the base triangle with right sides facing. Align the bottom edge and the diagonal.
Stitch. Gently press toward the coral/melon base triangle so as not to distort it. Trim dog ears.
Be consistent with always stitching the right wing triangle on first and pressing that seam allowance under toward the base triangle. (paper piecers, disregard.)
As blocks are joined together in the quilt top, this pressing will help distribute the bulk that happens during quilt assembly. (You can also always press everything open if that is your choice.)
Add the left wing triangle in the same manner. Press toward the wing triangle. Remove dog ears and trim to 1 1/2’’ X 2 1/2’’ as needed. Make 80.
I know that folks love to talk “scant” – but be careful when sewing these. Seams that are “too scant” will not leave you with a 1/4” seam allowance at the top of your unit. You’ll lose your point in the next seam. Or your unit will be too big and you’ll lose it when you trim.
The only scant that is the “right” scant is the one that takes you to unit size without losing your margins.
Without Essential Triangle Tool)
You can make flying geese units with coral/melon 1 1/2’’ X 21/2’’ base rectangles with 1 1/2’’ neutral squares to become wing triangles in a stitch & flip method.
This method creates quite a bit of waste, but if it works for you – GREAT! Please remember that you may need more fabric yardage if you use methods like this.
Drawn Lines or Simple Folded Corners Method:
Cut 80 coral/melon rectangles 1 1/2” X 2 1/2”
Cut 160 neutral squares 1 1/2”
One Unit.
Cut enough for 80.
Draw a line from corner to corner on the back of each of the corner squares.
Place a square in the right hand corner of the rectangle with right sides together.
Place the sewing machine needle just barely to the RIGHT of the drawn line into what will be the seam allowance.
The drawn line is not the seam line. It is the FOLD line where your fabric has to fold up and over the thread to reach the edges of the base unit. DO NOT SEW ON THE LINE. Sew next to it.
Sew slowly, and carefully. Press.
*Pressing Tip! *
Instead of pressing blindly from the fold toward the corner, align the edges of the triangle you are pressing even with the edges of the base rectangle FIRST. Once these are even, press down on your unit. This will block your unit to help it keep its shape and size.
Once pressed correctly, fold triangle back and trim seam allowance 1/4” from stitching.
After trimming, press the seam allowance under toward the base triangle.
Repeat to add the opposite corner, pressing the trimmed seam allowance toward the left triangle just added.
Trim as needed to 1 1/2” X 2 1/2”. Make 80.
Don’t like drawing lines?
This is where the Simple Folded Corners or Simple Folded Corners Mini come into play.
Start as with the basic Stitch & Flip method above, but instead of drawing a diagonal line, place the 1/4” line on the diagonal of the Simple Folded Corners ruler (mini shown) on the diagonal of the corner square and trim leaving 1/4” seam allowance.
Remember to sew just shy of 1/4” because the FOLD has to happen on the diagonal of the square for the triangle to reach where it needs to go. A couple of tests should help you adjust where you need to sew to achieve unit size. Make 80!
Let’s join some things!
Grab the hourglass units made in Part Three, and stitch them between pairs of geese you’ve just made today!
Join the geese as shown to the neutral sides of the hourglass unit. Press seams toward the flying geese units. Make 40. Units will measure 2 1/2” X 4 1/2” unfinished and finish at 2” X 4” in the quilt.
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