Out of the closet

After a much-needed, two-year rest, my vintage tree blocks were pulled out of hibernation so I could start putting the top together.

Before officially starting, I made three ugly-fabric mock ups to work through the cutting and sewing details, determine sashing width, piecing order, and setting triangle size. After a couple weeks of fiddling around and fine-tuning, I was finally ready to cut the good fabric.

The first step was to make a template, which would be used to help cut the setting squares from this homespun plaid:

I aligned the straight edges of the template with the lines in the plaid, so the plaid pattern would not appear wonky and crooked. This is sometimes described as cutting off grain, on print, except in the case of a homespun, it would be cutting off grain, on weave – totally worth the effort to maintain balance, calm and order alongside a collection of busy, scrappy, pieced blocks.

I also paid attention to the orientation of the plaid, depending on which side of the vertical center the setting square was located.

The second step was to cut 60 sashing strips from this rich, rusty red solid.

I purchased the 2¾-plus yards (roughly 100 inches) that remained on the bolt because I needed that much length to avoid piecing the sashing, the longest diagonal measuring more than 80 inches. With the strips finishing at one-quarter inch wide, piecing them was out of the question.

A big advantage to cutting the sashing strips along the lengthwise grain was that they would have the least amount of stretch, good for keeping the top square.

I put my mat on the floor to cut these strips. I stabilized the ruler by putting my left knee directly onto the ruler at the bottom, a 5-pound hand weight at the top, and my left hand between those two positions. Applying that amount of pressure along the entire length of the ruler meant that cutting through all four layers without the ruler slipping was almost guaranteed.

I cut the strips on the fat side of the three-quarter inch ruler line to accommodate the bulk of pressing to one side.

I knotted and buried the thread tails throughout this entire project so it would not come apart as it was being handled.

Sewing over all the seam intersections in the tree blocks meant that progress was slow and challenged my ability to sew straight.

Every itty-bitty strip of sashing had to be generously pinned. I used the wedged side of a cuticle stick to flatten the seam allowance ahead of the needle piercing it as it advanced through the machine.

Once the needle made contact with the seam allowance, it was necessary to raise the presser foot to make sure the seam allowance wasn’t pushed forward. On top of that, I often needed to insert the compensating plates tool under the back of the presser foot to ensure even feeding of the layers.

Pressing wasn’t easy, either. My preference is to press away from the sashing strip, easy to do in the direction of the setting squares, but a nightmare when it’s going toward a tree block. I may have to rethink this part . . . .

Still, looking at it from the front side gives me hope that everything might be okay in the end.

Getting to this point wasn’t exactly smooth sailing, but I’m pretty pleased with how it’s taking shape. Those tree blocks haven’t lost any of their cool since I made the very first one.

Up next: long diagonal sashing strips.

Tackling a scrappy border

I’ve been making productive use of my quilting and sewing time since the vintage tree block for March was completed early in the month. I’m working on the pieced outer border for the plaid stars quilt, (which you can see here) although it has been a bit slow going.

Starting with the ¼-yard cuts of the homespuns used to create the star centers and points, I whacked a chunk off the end which had already been cut into to create those patches. The satisfaction of taming all those loose, floppy, uneven edges felt good.

Homespun count = 115, excluding the neutrals, the black inner border and the red used for the sashings – proof that when it comes to fabric, more is always better!

The pattern called for a finished patch width of 3½” but I increased it to 4″. It’s not a lot, but because my layout has 63 blocks as opposed to the 24 shown in the original pattern, I thought the extra ½” would look better.

The pattern also called for cutting a range of sizes, which was a bit of a stumbling block for me, given my natural tendency for specificity in most things. John recommended making paper templates in various sizes to help maximize the yield of fabric patches, and as usual, he was right; they helped immensely.

To avoid burn out, I spaced this exercise over six days. This is the result and I’m already wondering whether it’s enough???

Even if it’s not, I think the bulk of the cutting is behind me and I am looking forward to arranging the pieces.

Thanks for stopping by!

Achieving true square

Today I’m following up on last week’s tutorial by showing you how I achieved perfectly square center squares for the square-in-a-square blocks that go into my spring quilt. If you missed the first tutorial about making square-in-a-square blocks, click here.

To fussy cut the center squares like I did, you will need to start by drawing the center square on a piece of template plastic with a black, ultra fine point permanent marker.

For the 14″ blocks in my quilt, the center square measures 10⅜”, including ¼” seam allowance.

It’s helpful to draw the seam allowance on your template as well.

Two edges of the template material doubled as edges of my square template which is why you don’t see a black line on them.

When cutting out the square from template plastic, try to cut outside the line to give yourself a few extra threads all the way around when you trace it onto your fabric. You will need them later when trimming your square.

Next, center the template on top of the motif.

Using a pencil with a very sharp point, trace the template shape onto the fabric.

Switching to a pink flower here because I think it shows up better.

For ease of handling, separate the motif from the yardage. Align the ⅛” mark of your ruler on one of the traced lines and cut.

Do likewise with the remaining three sides. Lift the cut square out of the yardage and put it on your cutting mat.

Now it’s time to trim the square to a perfect square using a quilter’s ruler.

To achieve a perfect square, the measurement across both diagonals must be equal.

Align the top and right edges of your ruler just inside the traced lines on those two sides.

Press down on the ruler and trim the right side. Don’t stop when you reach the top of the ruler; guide your rotary cutter all the way off the top edge.

Keeping firm pressure on your ruler, trim the top edge.

Two sides trimmed.

Time to cut the third side. Paying attention to one side at a time lets you focus on achieving that perfect square.

Turn the fabric 180 degrees. Align the 10⅜” mark (that’s the unfinished cut size needed to make a 14″ square-in-square block) along the left side of your fabric and a horizontal line on your ruler with the bottom edge.

I like to cut my squares on the fat side of the ruler line. Those one or two extra threads help when adding your triangles and pressing to one side.

Take your time; do not hurry. The accuracy you achieve here will make things go together much easier further into the block’s construction.

Once everything is aligned correctly, trim the right side of the square.

Rotate the square clockwise one-quarter turn to cut the fourth side. Once again, align the 10⅜” mark along the left side of your fabric and a horizontal line on your ruler with the bottom edge.

Trim the right side of the square.

Now check the diagonal measurements of the square. Align the 45-degree line on a 6″ x 24″ ruler with the left side of the fabric square so that the ruler’s edge runs through opposite corners of the square.

The corner of the square rests right on the 15¾” mark.

Now check the other diagonal. Align the 45-degree line on your ruler with the bottom edge of the fabric square so that the ruler’s edge runs through opposite corners of the square.

Check the measurement. If it matches the first one, you have a perfect square.

For information on completing the square-in-a-square block, click here.

Here are all the squares ready for the addition of triangles.

I put them on the design wall to determine which direction the stems/blooms should be pointing/facing in the overall layout. Yeah, OCD.

Here are two finished square-in-a-square blocks:

And a four-patch block:

I am keeping up with my Aunt Grace blocks, but didn’t post last week’s set, so you’re getting two weeks’ worth today.

Distraction and triangle confusion

I’ve been very distracted lately, so progress on my spring quilt is somewhat stalled. When I finally mustered a small bit of attention span to work on it last week, I realized a serious cutting mistake which needed correcting. Fortunately, I wasn’t too far into it, so things were salvageable.

The original layout was a straight horizontal set

featuring this block called economy:

To reduce the number of seams, I converted the layout to an on-point set

consisting of square-in-a-square blocks alternating with 4-patch blocks.

When I printed the rotary cutting instructions for the pieced setting triangles featured in the on-point layout, this was what Electric Quilt generated:

The diagram shows the white triangles as half-square triangles, and despite my funny feeling about that, I proceeded to cut two or three squares in half and position them on the design wall. In a flash, my funny feeling became full-blown realization: half-square triangles are used to finish the corners of diagonally set quilts; I needed quarter-square triangles for the setting triangles. (Can you tell I’ve made very few on-point quilts?)

Sewing half-square triangles into the pieced setting triangles would result in a bias edge the entire perimeter of the quilt top (before borders). This top would stretch out of shape so fast, it wouldn’t be worth the bother.

So why did the EQ instructions call for half-square triangles?

EQ allows you to position a block in every other space of your layout by pressing the ALT key. This means the software reads all those partial blocks (like the one highlighted in green, below) as 4-patch blocks.

The triangles that are visible in the layout are therefore assumed to be half-square triangles.

To confirm this, I checked the cutting instructions for the horizontal set layout made with the economy block.

Sure enough, there was the diagram for quarter-square triangles.

This reminds me of a conversation with our boys many years ago when they were complaining about having to learn to spell. They didn’t see the point—isn’t that what spell check on the computer is for? They were so disappointed when I reminded them of all the homonyms in the English language and pointed out that the computer doesn’t distinguish between words like there, their and they’re, so you have to know how to spell and when to use all three.

I’ll be applying that same logic when reviewing cutting instructions for the setting triangles in on-point quilts.

Monday update

I don’t have much to show you today, although all my Christmas stuff is put away! I reorganized everything and stored decorations in bins according to room: dining room, kitchen, family room, etc. I think it will make things much easier next year.

Over the weekend I finished 10 more 1930s blocks, in keeping with my commitment to make 10 per week.

I also began cutting 2¼” reproduction green squares for the balance of the Aunt Grace blocks that are destined for my scrap quilt.

Upon the kids’ return to school tomorrow, the cleaning lady (that would be me) will be exceptionally busy. Maybe I can sew later in the week—sigh….

Making flying geese

I spent last week editing my Cocheco Memories pattern. I rewrote instructions to feature more sensible construction techniques for a couple of the blocks, which required a bunch of new illustrations, which then required a do-over of the entire layout. It was a lot of work, but for whatever reason, it suits me and I enjoyed doing it—it’s weird, I know.

One of the sections I redid was for the flying geese units.

Rhonda and Annlee have encouraged me to try the following technique, and to avoid the accusation of being too rigid, now was a good time to try it.

The method calls for one large square (the goose) and four small squares (the background). Here’s the math:

Determine the finished size of the unit. Mine measures 9″ x 4½”.

• Add 1¼” to the 9″ measurement and cut the large square this size. For this example, my square was 10¼”.

• Add ⅞” to the 4½” measurement and cut four squares measuring 5⅜”.

At this point, I will share a little secret with you. When cutting your squares, slide the ruler a hair to the right so you can cut on the fat side of the line. This gives you a couple extra threads of fabric in each direction that will be consumed when seams are pressed to one side but should not impact your finished size.

Here’s the large square:

This ugly fabric was purchased on sale years ago at a big box retailer and saved for making test blocks. This allows me to make all my mistakes before cutting into my good fabric.

On each one of your four small squares, draw a diagonal line from corner to corner using a very sharp pencil or a fine lead mechanical pencil. Try to make your line as thin as possible.

Next, using a 12″ x 1″ ruler, draw a diagonal line a scant ¼” on each side of the line you just drew, like this:

To get the scant ¼”, position the ¼” line of the ruler just below your original diagonal line:

The corner-to-corner line is shown in red for better visibility.

Pin a marked square to opposite corners of the large square. They will overlap a bit, but that’s okay.

Sew along your scant ¼” lines on either side of the center diagonal line.

Press to set the stitches,

place it on your cutting mat and cut along the center lines.

Return to your iron and press the seam allowance toward the small squares. Your units will resemble a funky heart shape.

Take one of the heart shaped units and position a small marked square on the remaining open corner.

Sew along the scant ¼” lines,

set the seam

and cut apart on the center line.

Repeat the previous four steps for the second heart-shaped unit. You will end up with four geese units. Press the seam allowance toward the small triangle.

Trim your points and give all four units a quick, final press.

Cross grain strips: not a panacea for all piecing

If you’re like me and dislike working with 40″ – 44″ width-of-fabric strips, consider trying this:

Cut your patches with the longest side parallel to the lengthwise grain (the selvage edge). Having the longest side parallel to the lengthwise grain gives your patches maximum stability because there is little chance of them stretching out of shape.

I’ll use the lawn chair quilt as an example, together with the assumption that the width of the fabric equals 40 inches.

The lawn chair quilt requires (40) 2½” x 12½” white strips.

If you use cross grain (width of fabric) strips, you would cut (14) 2½” strips, then sub cut each strip into 12½” segments. You would get (3) 12½” segments per strip.

Cross grain cutting diagram
The sections marked with an X represent leftover fabric.

If cutting lengthwise strips, you would first cut (3) 12½” width-of-fabric strips, then sub cut each of those into (16) 2½” strips.

Lengthwise grain cutting diagram

In the end, cutting my strips along the lengthwise grain was less efficient relative to fabric yardage required and the amount left over, but every cutting situation is different. I helped a customer at the shop one day who was having trouble understanding fabric requirements for a pattern. After studying it with pencil and calculator handy, we determined it would be more efficient for her to cut strips parallel to the selvage.

I cut strips from the batik fabrics the same way.

In the case of the lawn chair quilt, I was willing to use a bit more fabric in exchange for patches that are more manageable and an easier-to-work-with leftover piece. As with all things quilting, the decision is yours.