Triangle problems

You're going to have to be more specific as to what the question is. There are half square triangles (HST), quarter square triangles (QST), half rectangle triangles (HRT), paper pieced triangles, triangles made with templates, and others too numerous to name.* Can you give us the name of the block or design that you're trying to create?

--Lia

Both! :*( I'm making houses and losing the top of the roof and the roof edges. I'm losing the edges of the lighthouse roof which are QSTs.

They're the typical houses with roofs like this ---> ^ I lose the top and the bottom edges.

How do you attach triangles to triangles and still have a 1/4 seam? I had a book with a pic of how this is done but cannot find it.

Here's some photos. All triangles match up basically the same.

Thanks, but that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm attaching triangles to squares and other triangles and can't get points with a seam allowance. The point comes to the edge so the next piece cuts the points off. Instead of being pointed my house roofs are flat. Do you know how I can sew them together and keep the point back so there an 1/4 " seam allowance so the points aren't cut off flat?

To better explain it - I'm joining two smaller triangles to a larger triangle to make a pointed roof.

Let's say you want to join a triangle to a square. Your square is 2 1/2 inches. So you cut your triangle by taking another 2 1/2 inch square and cut it diagonally -- right? WRONG!

My guess is that you are making your triangles a wee bit too small for the squares you are adding them to. Also -- remember you have to leave an "ear" hanging off the edge when you align a triangle to a square. If you put the point of the triangle at the edge of the square -- in most cases you will lose the point on the triangle.

Here are some guidelines for working with triangles:

I'm still not sure I understand, but see if this makes sense. When you cut the triangles, cut them larger than the pattern says you need them. In other words, if the pattern tells you to cut 2 5 inch squares and slice them on the diagonal to make half square triangles, go ahead and cut the squares to 6 inches. Attach them. Then trim to the correct size.

There are so many house blocks, I can't visualize the one you're describing. If your block has a name, tell us, and we'll google to find it online. If your block is in a book, tell us which one. One of us will have it and will be able to see what you're describing. If your block is from a pattern, tell us which one. We'll google, find it, and be able to answer your question better.

--Lia

Is the finished unit a square? Are the 2 smaller triangles quarter square triangles, while the larger triangle is a half square triangle?

--Lia

be sure you're using the plate with the single tiny hole where the needle sews down thru. the wide one used for zigzag eats fabric sometimes.

also have more fabric to follow right after sewing your triangles. some folks call it a starter/ender piece. some folks use up other small pieces cut to the size they like and chain piece one more to start/finish a row of any other sewing so there is always a small piece attached to the threads. then they dont have to hold those threads out of the way as they start/finish.

argh, i'm sure that was not very clear. maybe someone else can splain it better than i did. j.

"Marie Dodge" wrote...

That sounds rather like an error of some sort in making the first piece. A point you want to appear in the finished result has to have the point a quarter of an inch in from the edge. Did you draft the block yourself? in which case did you add the correct seam allowances (1/2 for a rectangle or square, 7/8 for a HST, 1 1/4 for a QST)?

Cheers Anne

But how do I get the correct size without cutting off the point of the roof? The roof is shaped like this --> ^ It's like an upsidedown V. The roof must come to a point and have 1/4" seam allowance. Same for the sides of the roof. They don't reach the walls of the house.

^ The house is 2X4" with an unsidedown V shaped triangle for the upper part. |_| from a pattern, tell us which one. We'll google, find it, and be able to

It's just called a house block.

No. I added 1/4" on all sides as I always have, or the blocks (which need to be 2 1/2"s before sewn together) are too large if I add more. They need to be 2" when finished. How are two small triangles sewn to a larger triangle to make a rectangle? The middle triangle must have 1/4" seam allowance to keep from the poing being cut off.

You may need to draw this on paper for it to make sense. You DO cut off the top point, BUT a new point is created when the other pieces are sewn on. The point that you will see in the finished product will be created when all 3 seam allowances are figured in.

Try it on paper. Draw your triangles the way they fit together without seam allowances. Now take a different colored pencil and draw a line that represents seam allowances. See the way a new point is made?

--Lia

No. The finished piece must be 2 1/2" by 1 1/2" . When added to the others it needs a finished size of 1" by 2" so these are small pieces I'm working with.

No. There are 3 pieces to the square. A larger triangle in the middle and a small one on each side to make a rectangle.

I think I finally understand what you are having trouble with- when you sew the first two pieces of fabric together, the seam allowance should 'move' the point of the triangle 1/4 in. from the edge of the fabric. Then when you sew the second seam on to the first pieces, the point is at the edge of the seam allowance and stitching line. Do you know how to make flying geese? What you are making sounds very much like that process. See if this is basically what your roof portion looks like- the last row of pictures show what the triangles should look like when the point is sewn as I described above and it 'moves' from the edge of the fabric to 1/4 in. away to create the next seam allowance- which can then be sewn without chopping off the point of the triangle

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

Try this. Draw your pieces on paper. Add seam allowance. Cut out the pieces with paper scissors. Your pieces now are the size of your fabric pieces, but they have pencil lines to represent where you'll be sewing. Put the pieces together. Pin the paper together where the intersections meet. Study the shape you get. Now sew in a way that gives you the same shape.

--Lia

How are you drawing/cutting out the triangles? There should be a good overlap when attaching a triangle to a square. Remember you are matching the sewing lines, *not* the cutting lines. The sewing lines are a quarter of an inch inside the cutting lines. Are you working from templates? or, have you drawn a triangle with a cutting line base of 4.5" to attach to a square of 4.5" side? If you have, then that is where you are going wrong. A triangle to be attached to a 4.5" square should have a cutting line base of 4" (finished size of square) + 7/8" (seven eighths) of an inch. Then you match centre to centre and there you are. If you bear in mind that it is the sewing lines that must match up, and that, for triangles, you cannot just add the usual half inch for seam allowances, you'll be OK. Draw some out on graph paper and you will see it as clear as day.

In message , Marie Dodge writes

For some reason the top of the point is at the top of the square so when the next block is added the point is gone into the 1/4" seam. The sides are the worst. The points of the edge of the roof are squared off in the seam. I can't get a good seam allowance and I can't remember how it's done from years ago. Basically I'm sewing 3 triangles together to make a finished 2" by 1" rectangle. The rectangle has to be 2 1/4" by 1 1/4".

But there is none at the bottom of the rectangle made of the 3 triangles. The point comes right to the edge and is squared off in the seam. The top barely has a seam allowance.

I see a confusing tangle of different colored lines. When the material is cut out and sewn together I either have no seam allowance at the top or none at the sides and lose the points at the sides. I have searched everywhere for my old book with the instructions to make these. I have 5 quilting books and not one explains how to sew 3 triangles together to make a rectangle. I'm truly at the point of frustration after hours and hours at this one piece.