Drawing Diagonal Lines on Fabric

Sometimes I have a hard time drawing the diagonal line on squares. The line doesn't end up straight because the fabric shifts under the ruler as a use the pencil to draw the line.

Here's what I came up with:

I use a sheet of 220 grit Wet or Dry sandpaper.

The grit is very fine and holds the fabric so that it doesn't shift.
I use a ruler and a mechanical pencil. The mechanical pencil makes a very fine line and it is easy to get the line right on the edge of the ruler.

The lines are all straight, the fabric hasn't shifted and it hasn't stretched along the bias.

It works for me. If you have another way of drawing the diagonal line on your squares please leave a comment and let me know!

Quarter-Square Triangle Tutorial

I'm going to use four Quarter-square triangle blocks in the next block.

Another good tutorial can be found at Patchwork-and-Quilting.com.

To find the size to cut your squares, add 1 1/2" to the finished size of the block. I need a 4" finished (already sewn into the block) for the next block, so I cut my squares 5 1/2". Since I need four quarter-square triangles, I cut two light and two dark 5 1/2" squares.

Two light 5 1/2" squares right sides together on two dark 5 1/2" squares. Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner. Pin in two places so the squares won't shift while you are sewing.

Sew a scant 1/4" seam along each side of the drawn line on both pairs. Cut along the diagonal line.

Press the seam towards the darker fabric. These are called 'half-square triangles' and we've learned two other ways to make them here and here.

Place two half-square triangle units together with the light and dark opposite sides opposite each other. Draw a line diagonally (perpendicular to the seam line). Pin. The bottom square in the photo shows the top unit pulled back so you can see how the two units match up.

Sew a scant 1/4" seam on each side of the drawn line.

Cut along the diagonal. The bottom right unit in the photo above shows the seam 'fanned' out to reduce the bulk. You don't have to open the seams this way if you don't want to, you can press the whole seam to one side instead.

You can use either a 6 1/2" square ruler (left side of photo) or a Quilt in a Day Triangle Square Up Ruler to square up your blocks. In either case, match the diagonal line on the ruler with the diagonal line on your block and the 4 1/2" marking on the ruler. Trim both sides. Turn the block around so the untrimmed edges are on the top, match up the ruler again, and trim the edges.

You can see the ruler better in this photo. The diagonal line in the center of the ruler is lined up with the vertical seam and the horizontal seam is lined up with the 4 1/2" ruler marking. This works on either type of ruler, but this ruler has fewer lines so it's easier to line up and trim the blocks.

All four blocks trimmed and ready to be put into the block.

My new machine isn't working right now. It's 17 and feeling its age. So I'm using my trusty Featherweight for my blocks! It's tiny and out of the way and so much fun to sew on!

Half-Square Triangle Paper (New Skill)

Today's New Skill: Another way to make half-square triangles.

The next block we are sewing has 16 half square triangles in it. That's alot of triangles!

I've shown two different ways to make half square triangles in this post.

This post will show how to make them with paper, which is my favorite way of making them. I love using paper because my triangles turn out very accurate. Accuracy is my number two goal when I'm quilting. (Number one is trying to get the colors right!)

Accurate units make accurate blocks, which means less trimming and fewer lost points on stars and other block shapes.

Overview:

1. Stack two pieces of fabrics right sides together, and (usually) dark fabric on the bottom.
2. Place the half-square triangle paper on top of the fabrics.
3. Set machine stitch length to a smaller setting (I use 1.5) and tighten the tension just a bit.
4. Sew on the dashed (dotted) lines until all of the dashed (or dotted) lines have stitching.
5. Cut along the solid lines.
6. Press open.
7. Tear paper off.
8. Check your half square triangle for size and trim if necessary.

Photo Tutorial:

Cut two pieces of fabric 1/2" or more than your finished half-square triangle. Place them right sides together. I usually cut  about 3/4" bigger, but in the tutorial I've cut the rectangles much larger so you can see the process easier.

Pin the paper on the fabric in a spot where you won't catch it with your sewing machine needle. he solid lines or in the middle of triangles are both good places.

Set your machine's stitch to a smaller stitch. I usually set mine to 1.5. Smaller stitch length makes it easier to tear the paper off at the end of the process.
I've already sewn the first seam on the dashed lines along the pink arrows. After the first seam, leave your needle in the down position and rotate your fabric and paper. Sew the next seam.

You will eventually run out of dashed lines to follow. When that happens, turn your paper and start on the next set of dashed lines.

All the dashed lines are sewn, now it is time to trim the paper and extra fabric.

All the excess fabric and paper have been trimmed away, and the half-square triangles have been cut

Here's what I threw away. Usually there is less fabric to throw away, but I wanted all the seams and trimming to show up really well in these photos. 

Press open. The triangles on the left are right side up, the triangles on the right are paper side up. Woops! I put the dark fabric on top, which means when I press with the paper still on, my seam is pressed towards the light fabric.

If you leave the paper on while pressing, you can't stretch the bias seam that runs through the center of your half-square triangle. Accuracy! Yay!

Caution: If you are printing your triangle paper on a home printer it is a really good idea to put some sort of lining or scrap fabric on your ironing board. Often the ink from a home printer will bleed onto your ironing board cover. Pre-printed (purchased) triangle paper is printed with a different ink that stays on the paper and doesn't transfer.

Since I printed my own triangle paper, I need to crease the paper to make it easier to tear off. (Yes, I have farmer hands ... comes from milking the goats and gardening and cleaning stalls....)

Carefully tear the paper off, you can see the paper on the left.

I trim the 'ears' off my blocks because I think it makes them easier to sew in the next step. You don't have to do that, lots and lots of quilters leave the 'ears' on!

If you haven't found your favorite way of making half-square triangles yet, check out Connecting Threads. They have four tutorials on making half-square triangles using specialty rulers. They show how to use the The Fons and Porter Half and Quarter Rulers (by Omnigrid), The Wonder Cut Ruler, Triangulations CD (print half-square triangles on home printers), and June Tailor's Perfect Half Square and Quarter Square Triangles Ruler.

If you want to print your own half-square triangle paper here are a few links:

Block Central (1", 2", 3", and 4" half-square triangle paper)

Quilting and Whatnot (1/2" to 2 1/2" finished half-square triangles in 1/2" increments)

When printing your own triangle paper, make sure you check the 1" test box that prints out on each page to make sure your printer is printing your triangles to the correct size.

Purchased half-square triangle paper:

Quilt-Pro Systems (purchased program with every size of half-square triangles, print on your own printer)

Quiltime (half-square triangle paper in packages of 25 sheets)

Fat Quarter Shop (triangle paper on a roll--great for when you have a bazillion half-square triangles to make because you can cut as long a strip of paper as you need! This is my favorite half-square triangle paper.)

Thangles (all sizes of half-square triangles on a strip of paper)

Here is a video tutorial on using Thangles (a purchased triangle paper).


Don't want to rip out paper but still like the idea of using paper? Check out this video:


Trish Stewart has a great tutorial on how to make your own half-square triangle paper for you to print out and add to your quilting notebook or file. (You gotta be able to do a little bit of math, though. Just a little, I promise!)

And finally, here is the paper I used in the tutorial. If I don't have the size of half-square triangle paper I need (that I've purchased), I will often draw the size on my computer and print it out.

These trim out to 3" (and finish at 2 1/2") which is the size we need for our next block.

If I've left out a step or you need a better explanation, please comment below and I'll do my best to answer and/or fix my post.

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Strip Piecing (New Skill)

To get ready for our next block you will need to know how to strip piece. You can sew the four-patch units the 'old-fashioned way' by cutting out each individual piece and sewing it together, but it is much easier to cut strips of fabric, sew them together, slice them, and then re-sew them into the four-patch unit we will need.

I know it sounds like more work, but trust me, it is not only much less work, the finished sub-units are more accurate.

Strip piecing is cutting long strips of fabric and sewing them together. Then cutting the sewn strip into smaller pieces to get them ready to sew into a block or a unit. You can sew any number of strips together, then cut them apart and re-sew them into new designs.

The easiest strip set to make contains only two strips, which is what this tutorial will show.

Cutting the Strips

For our November block we need strips that are 2 1/2" x 26". My ruler isn't long enough to cut a 26" strip. Although I can fold my fabric in half (I'll show you how later in the post), I wanted to show you how I make a longer ruler.

Line two rulers up end to end (the top two rulers in the photo are lined up end to end)
Use another ruler or the edge of a table or any straight edge to make sure that the first two rulers are perfectly aligned along one edge (the ruler at the bottom of the photo is my straight edge making sure that the two rulers on the top are perfectly aligned).

Place a piece of Scotch (or other clear) tape on the matching edges of the top two rulers. If you look closely you can see a piece of scotch tape along the ruler edges in the photo above.

That's it! Now you have a longer ruler than you started with. Since the edges are aligned there is no chance to get a nick in your cutting blade by running the cutter into the spot where the two rulers are connected. And if you are cutting long pieces of fabric, you don't have to move your ruler, you can just move your hand along the ruler, which helps keep your cuts even along the length of the fabric.

Now you can cut a 2 1/2" strip.

OR:


Here is how you cut a strip from a piece of fabric that is folded in half. The fold is on the right side in the photos.

First you will need to 'square' your fabric, which means you need to make sure that the cut edge of your fabric is 90˚ from your folded edge.

Line one of your ruler marking lines along the folded edge of your fabric.
Chances are the cut edge will not be the same width all along the fabric below the ruler (which is why we are squaring it up), it will probably be narrower at one edge and wider at the other. Match the bottom of your ruler with the shortest spot of the fabric and trim the excess fabric. 

Once your fabric is squared up, line the ruler marking line along the edge of the fabric and the measuring marks 2 1/2" from the edge. See photo.
Cut along the ruler and you will have a 2 1/2" strip of fabric.

Press the strip to get rid of the fold. If you have cut a folded, squared-up piece of fabric you won't be able to see where the fold was. If you didn't square up your fabric properly you will see a small V shape where the fold was. (The scissors are pointing to where the fold was.)

Strip Piecing
Place two strips right sides together and pin if necessary.

Sew a scant 1/4" from the edge of the fabric.

Press the seam flat before you press it open. It helps to set the seam and it helps the fabric on the bottom 'stick' a little to the ironing board which makes it easy to press the strip open.

Whatever fabric you have on top when you press the seam open will have the seam allowance pressed towards it. In the photo above you can see the green fabric is on top, in the photo below the seam allowance is pressed towards the green fabric.

Press the seam towards the dark (or in this case green) fabric.

Cutting the Sub-units

Time to cut the end off the strip so it is at a 90˚ to the center seam (NOT THE BOTTOM EDGE!)
Line one of the ruler lines up with the center seam of your strip, trim the end of the strip so that it is straight.

Flip your strip the other direction so the straight trimmed edge is on your left (if you cut with your left hand, reverse the strip direction in this and the previous photo.)

Because I get distracted and often cut pieces, strips, units (you name it!) the wrong dimensions, I use a piece of colored tape on the ruler line that I need to line the cut edge of my fabric up with. In this photo the pink tape is on the 2 1/2" line.
Make 10 cuts to end up with 10 two-patch rectangles.

I use Glow-line Tape by Omnigrid. One package lasts for years... and years.... and years... I bought 2 rolls about 6 years ago. I estimate that I have about 60 years worth of tape at the rate I use (and re-use) it.

For the November block you will need 10 pieces cut from the strips to sew back together to form the Four-Patch sub-units.

Here is a short, one page tutorial on strip piecing a four-patch block.
Quilt University: Making 4-patch unit

Now that you know how to cut and sew accurately, sew half-square triangles, and strip piece you can make hundreds of different blocks!

Please leave a comment if I haven't explained something clearly enough or if you need photo(s) of a step that I haven't included. I would really like to have this be a resource you can follow along easily.

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Sewing Half-square Triangles (New Skill)

What is a 'half-square triangle'?

It is a square that is made up of two right-triangles.

There are a many ways to make half-square triangles. I'll show you two.

Method 1
Step 1: Cut two squares of fabric the same size. Mine are 5" square because the next block we are making is a Shoo-fly block and that is the size we will need.

Step 2: Draw a line (I used a pencil) from one corner to the opposite corner on the lightest colored square.

Step 3: Stack the two squares, right sides together. I usually pin them together so they don't shift while I am sewing.

Step 4: Sew 1/4" on either side of the drawn line.

Step 5: Cut along the drawn line.

Step 6: Press open (usually press towards the darker fabric) and you will have two half-square triangles.

Here's a video:


Method 2
Step 1: Cut two squares of the same size. These are 7" square because the Shoo-fly block we are making next needs four 4 1/2" half-square triangles.

Step 2: Pin in a few places (I used 4 pins) to keep the blocks from shifting while you are sewing. Sew 1/4" from the edge of the block all the way around.

Step 3: Cut through the center of the block from corner to corner.

This is what the block looks like after the first cut.
Don't separate your triangles like I did for the photo!
I just wanted you to see where the cut was.
Keep the two halves together and rotate your ruler to cut the second diagonal.

Step 4: Cut the other diagonal. Again, I pulled them apart so you could see the second cut.

Step 5: Press the triangles open. The cut edge is a bias edge so be careful to PRESS instead of IRON or you will distort your block. Press towards the dark side.

Step 6: Trim your block to 4 1/2" making sure that the diagonal line of your block lines up with the diagonal line on your ruler.

(4) Half-square triangles ready to sew into your Shoo-fly block!

 Here's a video for Method 2:

Printable directions! Click on the image to view full size and print from your browser window.

Printable directions! Click on the image to view full size and print from your browser window.

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