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Start by cutting 4" squares. Pair them right sides together, draw a
diagonal line (corner to corner). Draw 2 lines 1/4" away from that diagonal. Those
two are your stiching lines, the center one will be the cutting line. Stitch and press. My idea is to make 49 blocks... follow me here, it really makes sense on paper... |
| Cut on the diagonal. |
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Then cut on the opposite diagonal to get four units. |
| Take to the pressing board and press with seam allowances towards the
darkest fabric. I use one, put the other three in a ziploc bag to use later, to make it
look as scrappy as possible, even though the colors will repeat. Here is where the 49 blocks make some sense... For every block you make, you'll have 12 units leftover, so if takes 4 to make a block, basically, for every block you make, you'll have enough for 3 more blocks: 1-----3 49-----X X = 169 That's enough for a quilt 13 x 13, not much considering that the blocks are only 4" finished. Alrighty, chances are I'll make more.
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Slice a 3" square on the diagonal once. Use one piece, save the other one for later. |
| Join the half 3" square to one of the units you've cut at first, lining up the point of the triangle with the seam of the other unit. |
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Draw a line 3/4" away from the SEWING LINE. That will be the sewing line for your next piece. For that, I am using small leftover right angle triangles from previous quilts (anywhere between 1.75 and 2"). |
| Pin the small triangle like this. Line up the point with the seam. Flip and sew on the line you drew. Press and cut the excess (pink in this case). Press two with seams towards the right and two with the seams towards the left, so they will lock when you sew the halves together. |
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Time to trim it. Use the square ruler to square it off. I squared mine off to 2.5". |
| The picture is bad, but you can get an idea. Line up the diagonal line on the ruler on the diagonal seam and the 2.5 point on the ruler on the edge where the fabric is sewn |
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Once it is trimmed, this is what it looks like. Make four to make one block. Ok, so I probably do waste a bit of fabric, one could get away with 3.75" squares to begin with, but I rather trim than not have enough to get them nicely squared up. |
| Join four to make a block. That's all I've done for now, making groups of four. No rhyme or reason to the color, just making sure the seams match (best I can, some don't). |
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Here are four blocks sewn. Busy, eh? Eight inches (plus seam allowances). |