Setting Blocks on Point

Hi Linda,

There are some good links on this page - for how to set and for what size to cut the triangles so that you do not have to work with bias edges.

Lizzy

What kind of things do you want to know? Are you following a pattern?

The most basic on point set has blocks in every possible spot and all you need to add in is "setting triangles" - bits of fabric to fill up the gaps at the edges and make the whole thing a rectangle. The important thing to remember is that you must place quarter square triangles along all the sides and half square triangles at the 4 corners. This can mean that the squares you are cutting the quarter square triangles from can be big, even a 6 inch block would require you to cut 11 inch squares, it suddenly means cutting a strip is tricky, they may not fit nicely on your fabric, so with the numbers above you'd get 3 squares per width, but a big piece left over, so you can end up needing extra fabric. That shouldn't be a problem if you are following a pattern, but it's worth knowing about the possibility of cutting quarter square triangles from a strip, you need a strip half the width of the square you would have cut and a way of accurately cutting 45deg angles, you can buy a triangle shaped ruler that has the finished size marked and tells you what width of strip to cut.

But there are so many different combinations, that might not be what you are doing! I helped a friend recently with a pattern that had some different sized blocks and some strips, such that the corner and side triangles were very similar size, but it didn't warn her and they were from the same fabric, so once they were cut we had to do some pulling and tugging to figure out the direction of the grain so they could be put in the right place in the design!

Cheers Anne

Thanks Anne! I have about 90 6" square (8.5" diagonal) 'whackeroo' blocks that I want to set on-point with sashing between (as the blocks have such differences in colors, etc. they don't look well beside each other - need separation between them). My 'goal' is to make a full-sized quilt from this. I'm not following a pattern.

Part of my questions: do I sash each block first all the way around, or do I do rows and sash that? Is there any way to do corner squares between the blocks?

thanks, l> >> I know I've seen this discussed previously but can't find it. Is there

Draw out your pattern so you know how many blocks you have in one diagonal row.

Then join your blocks just like you would for a regular quilt. My recommendations is sashing between the blocks only... then a row of sashing strips... with your cornerstones if you wish.

Once you have those all done.... add your triangle pieces on each end of your rows (draw this out so you know which way to place the triangles. Then join your rows normally...

It sounds more complicated than it actually is. The main difference is that on the ends of your rows you have triangles -- instead of blocks. But joining it together is pretty straightforward.

I'm not sure if this helps or now... post back if I have further confused you!

How consistent are the sizes of your blocks? Given you want to do corner stones, personally, I would go for making each square into a bigger square, that can also give you some wiggle room, if the sizes aren't so consistent.

The basic idea you put a strip in the north east side of all the blocks, then a strip and a square (which you could have strip pieced) on the south east, if you want the sashing to go around the outside of all the blocks, then some squares need sashing on 3 sides and the top left corner block will have it on all 4 - but you'll need to draw that out and count how many you need of each one.

You can join blocks into rows with sashing, then make strips of sashing/cornerstone alternating and join the rows, but personally I think tha's a pain in the butt.

Anne

Another option, if you choose to border each block all around, is to do half in one fabric and half in another, then alternate them. Keep these borders narrow, probably 1.5" strips. Roberta in D

"Linda Franklin" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:8dBDj.21336$ snipped-for-privacy@bignews1.bellsouth.net...

Linda: Look for a book on Setting. Shayrn Craig is author of a very fine book on the topic. Maybe you can find it in your County Library.

PAT in VA/USA

I think Sharyn's book is excellent, but iirc covers the basics very fast, so minimal details on how to actually do each of the various on point variations. It might inspire you to a fabulous design with these blocks, but probably isn't the best for working out how to do a specific thing, one of the more basic setting books, may well be more helpful.

Anne