World Wide Quilting Page
Question of the Week
Question for the week of June 22, 1998:
Our question this week comes from Mori Flahive
What is the easiest and most accurate way to cut out triangles that are NOT
right triangles? Is there an easy way to do this using my rotary cutter, or will I have to do it using templates?
Marianne :
As an example: Cut a 5" strip of fabric the width of fabric. Using your ruler cut a 60 degree angle. Using this angle cut a 5" diamond. Cut the diamond in half to get triangles. These shapes when sewn together will form a hexagon.
Andrea :
"Not right triangles" covers a lot of types of triangles, but... if you mean equilateral (60 degrees on all points), cut a strip the height of one triangle. Then, use a straight edge with a sixty-degree mark to cut one point-up, one point-down alternately. I like the Tri-Recs tools, and Hickey and Hansen have a couple of books out on speed-cutting and -piecing half-square triangles and rectangles. (The directions specifically cover 30-60-90 and 45-90-45 triangles, but I have modified the basic technique to get other shapes.)
Good luck!
Jan B.in TN :
I took a class from Sharyn Craig, author of Pyramid Plus Stars, and she had us to cut strips that were the longest dimention of your triangle, plus the seam allowance. Then you use a small plain trianble with 30,60,90 degree angles and cut and flip and cut again. Made perfect triangles! Hope this helps.
Barbara :
This uses a paper template. Graph the triangle on 1/4" graph paper and clearly mark the sewing lines. cut it out on the cutting lines. I place fabric glue stick (small amount) to the back of the template and place it on the fabric. I use my rotary cutter and line the 1/4" mark up right on the sewing line and cut. I just keep moving the ruler around until all the cuts are made. I then reposition the paper template to cut more pieces. Be sure to watch your grain lines. Good luck. It works for me.
World Wide Quilting Page * Question of the Week