If after reading the tutorial, you still have questions, please email me at joanparker10@gmail.com.
Theses blocks are NOT cut with a Tri-Recs ruler. This is a 60-degree ruler, also known as an equilateral triangle ruler. All the angles are equal, allowing it to be turned any direction and still fit with the other triangles. I will show pictures with a regular rectangular ruler with 60-degree markings at the end. I looked in my ruler drawer and saw that I had purchased a 60-degree ruler in the past, so I used that as I found it simpler.
I have included many different fabric designs (batik, upcycled men’s shirts, florals) because I have a lot of fabric donated to me.. I cut the strips down to different widths (because that makes it more interesting to look at) and pressed them if necessary. Here is my set-up. Strips in piles on the left by general width and my pressing station to my left. When one gets to the end of a sewn strip set, it is useful to know about how much more one needs to reach a 6” wide strip. I find that having several small piles of strips prevented a hot mess of a pile. When selecting what strips to sew together, I just in general tried not to have more than one type in a set. For instance, only one floral, one geographic print, one batik and one shirt piece. That is not required, just sharing what I do. Colors don’t matter much, because the blocks can be spread out in the final quilt layout.
So just grab two strips and sew them together with 1/4” seam. The strips are often not the same length, so just trim the longer one off with scissors and set the smaller piece aside to be used later. One can piece just one strip 6” wide out of smaller pieces. That wastes fabric, so I like to piece strips as much as possible. I even piece two same-width strips together as you’ll see in some pictures.
In the second picture, my finger is at the 6” mark. I press the seams all in the same direction, BTW. So I can see that I need a strip about an inch wide to make the set 6” wide. Remember to add 1/4” in wide of what is needed for the seam allowance.
Once your strip set is at least 6” wide, lay the ruler on the set with the horizontal lines of the ruler matching your seams lines and make sure it is not off the fabric anywhere. I cut the right side first, then the left, as seen in the following pictures. Notice that my set is wider than 6 inches.
After both sides are cut correctly, turn the unit of fabric so that the side needing trimmed is to the right if you’re right-handed, then reposition the ruler and trim off the excess.
I flip the fabric over and line up the ruler on the cut line to cut another unit if there is enough fabric in the set. That way no fabric is wasted. You end up with two units where the fabrics are flipped in order. In other words, the fabric at the top of one is at the bottom of the next.
***What if I don’t have the special ruler?***
You can trim the strip unit to 6” wide first. That way you don’t have a tiny strip on one end and a huge one on the other. Here is me cutting the unit to 6” wide first. Notice how my ruler lines are lined up with the seam lines. I knew that my leftmost strip was not cut to an even width, but I didn’t trim it up ahead of time because I knew I was purposely putting it on the end of my strip set.
If you want to use a rectangular or square ruler with markings, this is how that is done. Make your strip set the same way. Then put your 60-degree line on the top of the strip set and trim the first side. Then move your ruler as shown and cut the second.
When you make the second cut, the 60-degree line should be on the left side of what you just cut.
This might be as clear as mud, but please ask questions. I will do a second post later showing how I use up those small bits that some might throw away as well as the block layout pattern I used.
Thanks for reading! Leave a comment so I know you were here!
