Quilting 102
Meera Chandrasekhar
Sponsored by Shanthi Mandir, Summer 2012
Squares, Triangles, Diamonds and more
• For a square piece:
o Cut ½” larger than finished size (if your block needs a 2”
finished square, your fabric should have a 2.5” square).
o Cut a strip first, then chop it up into squares.
• If you have funky shapes (e.g., partial circles), make
a template:
o
o
o
o
Make a full-sized version on graph paper
Cut, and paste on manila folder weight cardstock
Draw ¼” lines around the shape, then cut again
Use this template to cut your fabric
• For triangles and diamonds, there are easy cutting
and piecing techniques.
Squares
Cut…
Finished size
3 ½”
3”
seam
3”
3 ½”
Half-Square Triangle units:
(right angle triangles)
Cut two squares 7/8” larger
than finished size*
Finished size
3 7/8”
3”
3”
3 7/8”
* The add 7/8” rule
holds for ANY halfsquare triangle
finished size
1. Place the two squares one
on top of the other, edges
exactly aligned
2. Draw a diagonal line
3. Stitch seams on both
sides of the line, ¼”
from diagonal line
4. Cut along diagonal line, open
stitched piece and press
…And you have two half-square
triangle blocks (3 ½ x 3 ½”)
3 ½”
(when you stitch the 3½“ square into a
block, it will have a finished size of 3”)
To make several half-square triangles, cut a strip
of width = finished size + 7/8”
Quarter-Square Triangle units
Star Block
Card-Trick Block
•
•
•
•
•
•
Choose a finished square unit size.
Add 1¼" to finished dimensions.
Cut two squares of that size.
Use the half-square triangle
sandwich method to sew the
squares together.
Cut apart, press seam open, to
create two half-square triangle
units.
On the reverse side of one of the
units, draw diagonal line,
perpendicular to seam.
Place the two triangle-square units
right sides together, diagonal
seams together, contrasting
triangles facing each other.
Align edges carefully.
Sew two seams, each 1/4" from the
drawn line.
Cut the squares apart on the
diagonal line. Press units open and
trim triangular nubs at the ends.
Variations
Two identical
patches
Not identical
patches –
mirror images
Not identical
patches –
mirror images
Long Triangles
http://quilting.about.com/o
d/rotarycuttingskills/ss/cut
ting_shapes_4.htm
Start with rectangle
Cut apart along diagonal
Equilateral Triangles
• Using the finished size, measure the
distance from triangle's base to tip
• Add 3/4" to the measurement and cut a
fabric strip of that width.
• Align the 60-degree line of a rotary ruler
with the long edge of fabric strip.
• Cut along right edge of ruler to establish
the first edge of the triangle.
• Rotate the ruler, aligning its other 60degree line along the bottom edge of the
strip. The edge of the ruler should be
positioned to form a "point" at the
bottom edge of your first cut.
• Cut along the right side of the ruler to
create a triangle All three legs should be
the same length--7/8" longer than the
triangle's finished size.
• Continue flip-flopping your ruler to cut
more equilateral triangles.
• Diamonds can have 30-degree, 45degree, or 60-degree angles. The process
of cutting them is the same.
• Cut a strip of fabric 1/2" wider than
diamond's finished height.
• Align the ruler's 30-, 45-, or 60-degree
line with the left lower edge of the
fabric, sliding it far enough onto the
strip so that there's fabric under its
entire right edge.
• Cut along the right edge of the ruler to
create the diamond's first angled side.
• Find the line on your ruler that matches
the cutting height of the diamond--the
same line you used to cut the fabric
strip. Match the line with the angled left
edge of the fabric and align the degree
line along the bottom edge of the strip.
• Cut along the right side of the ruler to
cut away the first diamond.
• Continue cutting diamond segments as
needed for your quilt.
Diamonds
Making a box-bottom bag
• Several tutorials online
o http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/07/17/how-to-make-asimple-reversible-totebag/
o http://ericafaye.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-sew-boxbottom-bag.html
o http://craftapple.wordpress.com/2007/09/01/sewing-tipsquarely-boxing-those-corners/
o http://www.lazygirldesigns.com/blog/pdf-files/tutorial-boxthe-bottom-corners-of-a-bag
• I recommend using cording to reinforce the side
seams