Triangle problems

yup, Marie, thats it exactly. j.

"Marie Dodge" wrote... > I've done assembly line sewing when I make a log cabin quilt. :-) One

hmmmmm, i'm guessing one of two things. either the pieces cut were not exactly the right size.... or the seams werent exactly 1/4". tho could well be a combination of the two things. i read thru and can see theres already been an explanation of doing simple 4 patches measuring etc to check how close your seams are to what they should be so i'll shut up and go watch Letterman now. :) night night. cant wait to see how tomorrow works. j.

"Marie Dodge" wrote...

Your county library probably has several basic quiltmaking books with nice illustrations that will tell you about paper piecing. Look for English Piecing and look for Foundation Piecing. Both may involve paper, but are different techniques. Basic books will demonstrate seams, triangles, and more. HTH. PAT, a Library Hound in VA

It depends exactly what you're joining to what, but if you're doing something like joining two flying geese "nose-to-nose" (or should that be "beak-to-beak"?) my favourite tip is to push a straight pin through the very tip of one, then the other, then pin the rest of the seam (keep the pin through the beaks sticking straight up and down - if you "tip" it so you can push it back through the fabric as in normal pinning, you mis-align the points). For added accuracy, I sometimes start my seam on the point of the point, rather than at the edge of the block as usual (you have to remove the pin first, obviously) then sew to one edge. Snip the thread, turn the block around, and sew from the point to the other edge. If you open the block now, the points should be picture perfect.

Here are some basic instructions for paper or foundation piecing. You piece over the paper (sewing along the lines) and then tear the paper off afterwards.

If you look the block she makes is just double your flying geese shape. I always cut the pieces plenty big enough and trim to size afterwards. the seams can't vary in placement so you know the block will be the right size.

Basically you just have to machine along the lines!

Carol Doak has a good instruction book on the process, and lots of follow up books.

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)

Marie Dodge wrote:

Marie, I really hope this isn't as frustrating for you as it is for me. The "teacher" part of me is crying with not being able to communicate directly.....sigh. About the seam allowance on the sides/bottom of your "geese"-- If the diagonal seam goes directly through the corner you will be fine. If you lay a clear ruler over the rectangle you will see that when the seam goes into the corner, it is also into the corner at a quarter inch in from the edge. When I make my geese larger and trim them, I use a small square quilter's ruler. Line the diagonal line on the ruler up with one seam of the goose, (point of the big triangle is down first) and making sure that my seamline measurement is at the point. (For your small 1"x2" (finished) goose that would be the 1 1/4" line) Use your rotary cutter to trim the side and "bottom", which is at the top at the moment. You can double check that the 1/4" mark is at the seam line too. Turn the goose around so that the point is up, line up the cut measurement lines (1 1/2" x 2 1/2") are on the sides just trimmed, and the quarter inch line runs at the point. Trim the other two sides. Perfect every time. If you are making a "true" flying geese unit, which finishes with the length twice the width, you can always trim it down to whatever size you want. You can take a 4"x8" goose and trim it to 1"x2" if you want to. (In geometry this has to do with congruent triangles. Triangles that are always the same shape, with the same angles, regardless of the size. And that is what a flying goose is. )

Hope this helps. And in your examples..... those are just new designs. Not "mistakes", just Design Possibilities.

Pati, in Phx

Marie Dodge wrote:

Thanks for this info. I'm saving it in my Quilt folder. I think I may need to watch someone do this to really understand it. I would also have to try and find tracing paper in town. Right now I'm suffering from information overload.

I have 5 quilting book and will Goolge it as well. It looks like it can help with accuracy.

It looks easy enough but I think I would need to watch someone do it. I learn much better watching someone do something than trying to follow directions in a book. But it's worth a try.

The seams are definitely part of the problem. Unlike my old Singer machine I can't get them accurate with any of the broad unwieldy feet on the NH. The new foot with the built in 1/4" seam guide is not easy to use. None of the seams were accurate from one end to the other. One of the feed dogs is only half grabbing the fabric because they're so far apart only part of the new foot hits the right hand one. This tends to direct the fabric to the side while sewing. I feel another Excedrin headache coming on. If I still had my old machine half the blocks for this quilt would already be finished.

I ripped the blocks apart and am starting again as soon as I get up the courage to turn the machine on.............

I know what you mean!

Directly through the corner? Which corner? ????

Without a pic I have no way to know what you mean. Which corner? Any corner? You mean a point?

Cutting a larger one, already made, down, wouldn't be a problem. I still can't get them to where all three triangles line up nicely into a rectangle. I have to rip them out over and over and over before I hit the right spot and they're lined up and even. Using a dot or sewing line doesn't help. Either they're too high on top or below the other 2 on the bottom. I can't remember how I did this in the past. I'm doing something wrong over and over again.

Pati, you (and the others) have all helped tremendously. The sites you all recommended have helped. Maybe if I had had geometry in school this would be easier for me to comprehend some of this stuff (measurements). But in my day all we had was basic Math. Most of which I've long since forgotten.

You're a hoot! ;^)