Welcome back to our Summer Quilt-A-Long

This is part 4 in our Quilt -A-Long and this week we are looking at different ways to make Half Square Triangles (HST).  If you missed part 1 and 2 of our QAL you will find the instructions at the links below on our branch page at www.irishpatchwork.com. 

 

Step 1: Introduction, Design and colouring on 01/06/20

Step 2: Breaking down the block into basic quilt units on 15/06/20

Step 3: Half Square Triangles (HST) 29/06/20

Step 4: Flying Geese These are my favourite shapes to make.  I love flying geese for their versatility in how they look with different fabrics and how you can stretch them, have them flying in curves or just straight up and down. 

    

Like HST, there are many ways to make them and in this week’s instruction, we are going to be looking at just a few of these, with some handy reference tables for you to keep, and refer to when designing your own quilts.

1 at a time

Flying Geese are traditionally twice as wide as they are tall e.g. 2” x 4” or 3” x 6” but they can be stretched to odd sizes and still be recognisable as a flying goose unit.    They are made up from two corner triangles known as the sky and a centre piece known as the goose. 

They are normally made from a starting square and a rectangle but they can be made from templates. 

 

Templates for the size 2” x 4” are in this PDF for you to download.  Templates can be handy when you are working from scraps and trying to make the most of odd pieced fabrics and don’t have enough fabric on hand to use the starting square methods below.

 1 at a time sew and flip method

The sew and flip method uses a starting square and rectangle that is + 0.5” bigger than the finished size of your Flying Goose. This method is very handy if you want to use different fabrics for the sky and geese.

Cut 1 rectangle for the Goose piece finished size + 0.5” seam allowance and 2 Sky units as squares finished height +0.5” e.g. to make a 4” x 2” finished flying goose unit you will need a rectangle 4.5” x 2.5” and 2 squares 2.5” x 2.5”. 

Place a sky square right sides together on the corner of your goose rectangle and draw a line on the diagonal as shown. 

Sew along this line

Tip: some people find it easier to sew a scant ¼” or a fraction to the outside of the line.  The thickness of the thread and the fold line can take up a bit of room in the seam allowance and leave you a little short when the fabric is flipped open.  Sewing a few threads outside your marked line can give you a little wiggle room and any excess fabric can be trimmed back later

Trim ¼” away from your sewn line shown here in orange.

Tip: If you take the waste triangles you just trimmed, you can sew ¼” along the diagonal and create a HST and use it later.

Flip open and press.

Repeat for the other side and you have 1 Flying Geese unit.

Trim to size if needed e.g. 2” x 4” unit trim to 2.5” x 4.5”

Here’s a handy reference table for sizes 1”x2” up to 6” x 12” Flying Geese:

 

4 at a time no waste method

This method makes 4 identical Flying Geese at a time and is called the No Waste Method as you don’t have to cut off the corners as is needed in the 1 at a time method above.

To start with, cut a square of Goose fabric, finished size + 1 ¼” e.g. for 2” x 4” Flying geese cut a square 5 ¼” x 5 ¼”.

Cut two squares Finished Height +1”for the Sky pieces e.g. for a 2” x 4” Flying Goose cut four 3” x 3” squares.

Place 2 Sky squares on opposing corners, right sides together.  The small squares overlap in the centre.   

Mark a diagonal line from corner to corner.

Sew a scant ¼” seam along either side of this marked line.

Cut along the central marked line to create 2 identical pieces.

 

Press seams open to the Sky side.

Place remaining Sky squares on the opposite corners as shown.  It will overlap the first Sky triangles.

Mark a line along the diagonal of your Sky squares and sew a scant ¼” seam on either side of the marked line.

 Cut along the marked line into 2 pieces and press open.

Repeat with the remaining piece to make 4 identical flying geese.

Trim to required size making sure the point is in the centre and you have a ¼ seam allowance above the point of the Goose where the sky units meet.

To make other sizes here is a reference chart for the size of starting squares needed for the Sky and the Goose Fabric:

Foundation paper piecing

Foundation paper piecing is a very handy method for making lots of Flying Geese stacked one on top of each other in rows.  It’s also the easiest method to use when Flying Geese don’t follow the 2:1 ratio described above. 

There are a few different ways of approaching Foundation Paper Piecing. 

• You can print the template for 2” x 4” Flying Geese on to special paper that tear easily like Carol Doaks Foundation paper. 
• You can trace the template onto Magic paper or a leave in interfacing
• You can print on standard copy paper and perforate the lines in the template with an unthreaded sewing machine by sewing along all the lines in the template.
  

 Reduce your stitch length to something like 1.5 to make tiny stitches for a strong seam that won’t rip when pulling out the paper afterwards. 

TIP:  Fold over the paper along every line before starting i.e. fold over on the line between A1 and A2, A1 and A3, A1-A2-A3 and A4, A5 and A4, and lastly A4 and A6

The first sewing line is between A1 and A2 so to begin, place a piece of fabric big enough to cover A1 plus ¼” seam all around on the back of the template with the right side facing down and wrong side to the back of the template.  Place a piece of fabric for A2 right sides together on top of A1. 

Tip:  Don’t cut your fabric too small, with Foundation Paper piecing you always need pieces bigger than you think especially when flipping open on a diagonal line.  Pin A1 or glue basting in place helps with holding all the pieces together.

Making sure there is an overlap on the line between A1 and A2 sew directly on the line through the paper and the two pieces of fabric to create your seam.  Flip open and check that the fabric completely covers A2 plus ¼” at least all the way around.

Turn the piece right side up, with the fabric right sides together, fold back the paper along the A1-A2 line and trim the excess fabric in the seam using a ¼” seam allowance.  Press the seam with a dry iron, flip open and press open.  Repeat for A1-A3 and follow the numbering sequence until you have all the pieces covered.

Tip: If you are making flying geese with different colour fabrics, it can help to mark the colours needed on the printed side of the template

Quilt-A-Long

For the purposes of our QAL, the first 3 methods described here will work best for the Blocks we are making.  Foundation Paper piecing is included to cover the normal methods of making flying geese and to show how versatile these units can be. 

Block 1:

Block 2:  

Depending on the fabric you have on hand, using scraps or yardage, select the method that suits your fabric best.  So go ahead and make the required number of Flying Geese units for your chosen block.

If you are wondering how many squares you will get from a fat quarter or yardage here is a link to our handy cheat sheet, more of which can be found on our website under Resources, available to members after logging into our site. 

Please join us in two weeks time, when we look at assembling our blocks starting with the corners.

Thanks for joining us,

Stay safe and happy sewing!

©Ruth Bourke

Mid-Western Branch

Welcome back to our Summer Quilt-A-Long

This is part 3 in our Quilt -A-Long and this week we are l

ooking at different ways to make Half Square Triangles (HST).  If you missed part 1 and 2 of our QAL you will find the instructions at the links below on our branch page at www.irishpatchwork.com. 

 

Step 1: Introduction, Design and colouring on 01/06/20

Step 2: Breaking down the block into basic quilt units on 15/06/20

Step 3: Half Square Triangles : Half Square Triangles or HST are like Marmite or Oxtail soup – you either love them or put up with them as something that exists in the world and necessary to make from time to time.  There are many ways to make them and in this week’s instruction we are going to be looking at just a few of these, with some handy reference tables for you to keep, and refer to when designing your own quilts.

• 1 at a time

The HST is made from 2 right angled triangles.They are normally made from a starting square and cutting it in half but they can be made from templates if you don’t have enough fabric for a square.  

Templates for sizes 1” to 6” are in this PDF for you to download.  These can be handy when you are working from scraps and trying to make the most of odd pieced fabrics and don’t have enough fabric on hand to use the starting square methods below. 

Using a starting square is the more usual way to make HST and you need a square big enough to take into account the seam allowance on the long angled side when sewing two triangles, right sides together.

The starting square is at least Finished Size + 7/8”.  I prefer to use Finished Size +1” as it is quicker to cut and gives you a little wiggle room on sewing a ¼” seam.  It does mean that you have to trim the HST to the finished size after sewing though, so an extra step is needed, but it is very satisfying,  when you see all the little slivers of fabric together in a pile and you have perfect HST at the end.  e.g. 2” Finished Size +1” = cut 3” starting square.  Trim to 2 ½” after sewing together.

This method is handy when you want all sorts of different fabrics to mix and match and you can pull what you need to make all different HST units.

The drawback with this method is you have bias edges that if handled too much can pull out of shape. 

Tip:  When using this method, it can help to use spray starch or a starch alternative such as Best Press.  This will give some stiffness to the fabric and help with controlling biased edges.
 

Trim using the 45-degree line on your ruler or cutting mat by aligning the HST diagonal line with the 45-degree line on your ruler and cutting down to the desired size.

2 at a time : Drawn Line Method

The drawn line method is similar to the method above in that you use a starting square that is the finished size of your HST unit at least +7/8” or 1” that I prefer to use e.g. 3” Finished HST would need a starting square of 4”.

For quick reference see this table:

Instead of cutting on the diagonal first to create two triangles, instead we place two different fabric squares right sides together.

Mark a line on the diagonal on the back of one of the squares and sew ¼”on either side of that line.

 

Press seams, cut along the diagonal on the marked line and flip open.

Press and trim to size for two identical HST.

8 at a time Drawn Line Method

If you have a lot of the same HST to make, then the 8 at time version of the drawn line method is for you.  To make 8 at a time you need a bigger starting square.  This time we take the finished size +1” and multiply by 2 e.g. 2” finished +1” =3” x 2 = 6” so we would cut a starting square of 6” to make 8 identical 2” HST.

The trick is in the marking and cutting.

As before, take two different fabric squares and place them right sides together.  On the back of the square facing you mark a line along both diagonals.  Sew a ¼” seam on either side of both marked lines.

We are going to make 4 cuts without lifting the fabric.  Divide the block into quarters by cutting in half twice as per orange lines on the diagram.

Then cut along the diagonals on the marked line to create 8 identical HST.

Press and flip open.  Trim to size.

If you prefer a table here’s the starting square for 8 at a time:

4 at a time Quick Sew Method

I first saw this method on the Missouri Star Quilt Company when Jenny Doan was making HST from layer cakes.  This method is a bit controversial as unlike the drawn line method above where you are capturing the bias edges in a seam, this method is like the 1 at a time where you are cutting on the diagonal and exposing the bias edges.  So be very careful handling your pieces and try using some starch to keep them in shape.  This method is not recommended for hand sewing as too much handling will lead to distorted edges.

Take two different fabric squares and place them right sides together.  Sew a ¼” seam inside all four edges.  Cut along both diagonals to make 4 identical HST.  Flip open, press and trim to size.  

But what size to use as a starting square I hear you ask?  This is the tricky bit.  The math’s on this one is a little difficult.  When I first saw that you add 7/8” for HST instead of ½” my engineering brain had to figure it out and a bit of trigonometry later I felt like I had it and got HST.  Then I saw this quick method and so I looked up the math and after going ouch, that hurts my brain, I got to grips with a formula square root( (Unfinished size squared) x 2)) +0.5 gets close to the finished size.  I know it’s mental, so here’s a table instead:

So what does all of this have to do with our QAL?  Well from step 2 we know how many of each HST we need for our block.

Block 1:

Block 2:

Depending on the fabric you have on hand, using scraps or yardage, select the method that suits your fabric best.  So go ahead and make the required number of HST units for your chosen block.

Chain Piecing

Chain Piecing is when you have all your pieces assembled and you feed them through the sewing machine one after the other without lifting your presser foot or breaking thread between them.

It’s like sewing your pieces together in a little assembly line and it saves on thread.  It can also take away the tedium of sewing a lot of the same pieces one by one.  The key is to have all your pieces prepared and stacked up ready for sewing. 

Tip:  Some people like to use a scrap piece of fabric to start the chain off called a leader.

The leader piece can be a scrap piece of fabric or some small squares or triangles that you can use to make another project.

You can also use an ender piece, which can be handy for HST so when you turn the chain around to sew the other side you have a scrap piece ready to get you started. 

Please join us in two weeks time, when we look at Flying Geese and again 4 different ways of making them including the No Waste 4 at a time method, sew and flip method, foundation paper piecing and 1 at a time from templates.

Thanks for joining us,

Stay safe and happy sewing!

©Ruth Bourke

Mid-Western Branch

Welcome back to our Summer Quilt-A-Long.

    

This week we are looking at our block and breaking it down to determine what pieces to cut.  We have 2 blocks for you to choose from and if you missed part 1 of our QAL you will find the instructions for part 1 here or on our branch page at www.irishpatchwork.com along with a colouring diagram, suggestions on colours and what the block looks like when tiled 2 blocks x 2 blocks (4 blocks in total).

If you are making block 1 read on if not skip ahead to block 2 on page 4.

So let’s look at Block 1:

The block looks complicated but when you break it down you will see that is made up of some basic quilting elements such as squares, half-square triangles (HST) and Flying Geese.

It is designed around a central star, with a number of surrounding frames and is laid out on a grid of 12 rows x 12 columns. 

The block can easily be made in any multiple of 12 and for the purposes of the QAL, we are making a 24” block so each of the squares on the grid is 2”. 

Tip: The big square in the middle could be made from 4 smaller squares or a larger square if you have a nice patterned piece of fabric that you would like to showcase.

To construct the block you could go row by row but an easier way to make this is to look at the block as a giant 9 patch and break it down into identical sub blocks. 

You can see from the dividing lines above that the block is made up of 4 identical corners, 4 identical middle pieces and a centre section.

So if we make sub units we are only dealing with a 4 x4 grid or 16 patch at any one time and can assemble them together later to make the complete block. 

This will help us figure out how many pieces of each shape we need in the colours we want to use for the quilt.  Take out your colouring sheet from step 1 and follow along with me as I break the block down into basic quilting units.

Taking sub block A first, we have the following:

*Don’t worry if that seems like a heck of a lot of HST.  With chain piecing and making them 2,4,8 at a time it won’t be so onerous.

Sub block B

Sub block C

We will cover how to make HST in part 3 and Flying Geese in part 4.  For now go ahead and cut out your square pieces.  The seam allowance for squares is + ½” to the finished size.  In our case, each grid square is 2” so 2 ½” x 2 ½” for each square is needed in our block. 

The centre square is a 2 grid x 2 grid = 4 + ½” seam allowance and can be made with a 4 ½” square if preferred.

If you are making block 1 go ahead analyse your version of the block from your colouring sheet for each of the corners, middles and centre block and cut out your squares.

If you are not making block 1 but prefer block 2 read on!

Block 2:

Block 2 has a similar design with a centre star and 4 identical middles but this time to get that repeating pattern when 4 blocks are sewn together there is a modification to one of the corners.  So, we have 3 A1 corners, 4 B1 middles, a C centre star and a final A2 corner.

Let’s have a closer look at each of the sub blocks. As with block 1, if we make sub blocks, we are only dealing with a 4 x4 grid or 16 patch at any one time and can assemble them together later to make the complete block.

The centre star block C is the same construction as the star block in block 1 above but the corners A1 and A2 and middles B1 are modified to have more background fabric and use only 4 colours instead of 5. 

 Take out your colouring sheet from step 1 and follow along with me as I break the block down into its basic quilting units.

Taking sub block A1 first, we have the following:

Sub block A1

Sub block B1

Sub Block C

Sub Block A2

We will cover how to make HST in part 3 and Flying Geese in part 4.  For now go ahead and cut out your square and rectangular pieces.  The seam allowance for squares and rectangles is + ½” to the finished size. 

In our case, each grid square is 2” so for each square 2 ½” x 2 ½” is needed.  The star centre square and large Square in the midde B1 blocks is a 2 grid x 2 grid = 4 + ½” seam allowance and can be made with a 4 ½” square if preferred.

The rectangles in sub block A1 are 2” x 6” and 2” x 4” finished so cut 2 ½” x 6 ½” for the longer rectangle and 2 ½” x 4 ½” for the shorter rectangle.

If you are making block 2,  go ahead and analyse your version of the block from your colouring sheet for each of the corners, middles and centre block and cut out your squares and rectangles. 

 Lastly…

I hope you have enjoyed breaking down the blocks with me and can see that a block that seems complicated at first is usually not. 

I also hope you are enjoying seeing how to use you own coloured blocks to figure out how many of each shape and colour you need to make your own quilt block or if you are following along using our block colouring in your own fabrics,  that’s fun too.

Please join us in two weeks time, when we look at chain piecing and 4 different ways of making Half Square Triangles 1, 2, 4 and 8 at a time, which will be very handy if pulling fabric from scraps or cutting from yardage. 

©Ruth Bourke

Mid-Western Branch

Welcome everybody to our first online Quilt-A-Long!

2020 is the 30th anniversary of the Mid-Western Branch and we had big plans for a trip away to Kerry and  branch meetings with guest speakers from Cork to Belfast, but seeing as those plans are not possible to realise at this time, we thought we would try something different. 

Quilters are adaptable making use of what we have on hand and we hope you will dig into your stash, pull out your scraps and join us over the summer months making along with us a quilt, based on a 12 x 12 Star surround block.   

The schedule for this QAL is:

Step 1: Introduction, Design and colouring  01/06/20

Step 2: Fabric Preparation and cutting fabric for 4 blocks 15/06/20

Step 3: Half Square Triangles 29/06/20

Step 4: Flying Geese 13/07/20

Step 5: Piecing the block corner sections 27/07/20

Step 6: Piecing the middle sections 10/08/20

Step 7: Assembling the block and quilt top 24/08/20

Step 8: Backing, Binding and Quilting ideas 07/09/20

We have two versions of the block that we will be providing detailed instructions for and we encourage you to change it up, adapt it, colour it in and have fun with it. When I was playing with this design I came up with 6 different versions so don't feel like you have to stick rigidly to the pattern if you prefer to be a maverick and are comfortable working away from a pattern.  If you like following a pattern and want all the math's done for you, we have you covered.

Block 1 is a traditional version of the design with Half Square Triangles, Flying Geese and squares.  When repeated you get a secondary pattern.  We will give the pattern for a 24" block layout with borders finishing up approximately 60". 

If you want a bigger quilt you can make the block bigger or add more blocks. 

Block 2 is an easier block with less elements that gives a traditional block with a more modern quilting look.When repeated it looks like this:

The quilt using block 2 finishes at approximately 55".

Here are blank blocks for you to colour in yourself and some thoughts on choosing colours:

Block 1 uses 5 colours and a colour scheme could be Light, Medium and Dark and 2 neutrals.  Neutrals in quilting aren't just white or cream.  Colours that can work as neutrals could be white, grey, cream, brown, navy, pale blue, olive green, dark green, black, or low volume tone on tone prints.   

Examples of other colourings for inspiration are:

Block 2 uses 4 colours and a colour scheme could be a Light, Medium, Dark and one neutral or any selection of 3 colours plus background fabric that you really like.

Examples of other colourings for inspiration are:

If you are stuck for colours then try looking at the Design Seeds website.  They take a photo and pull colours from it that really work well together and can be a great source of colour inspiration.

Fabric requirements: 

As we are working from our stash and using fat quarters, yardage, layer cakes and charm packs to pull colours from and depending on how you colour your block, it is difficult to give an exact yardage.

The 24" block size is based on a 12 x 12 grid with each square measuring 2",  so you will need scraps of 2 1/2" or more for squares and 3" and above to make the half square triangles.

For the colours, you will need up to 1 yard of fabric for four blocks, for each colour

2-3 yards of background fabric is needed,  including an inner border depending on which block you choose to make. 

If you are adding an outer border, you will need a yard of fabric for the outer border.

Our next post will be on the 15th for our next step in our QAL: preparing and cutting your fabric. 

I will give options on how to best to cut your fabric depending on using pre-cuts or yardage. 

Any comments or questions please mail Midwestpatchwork@gmail.com

Stay safe and happy sewing!

©Ruth Bourke

Mid-Western Branch

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow night for our Christmas party. Quizzes, prizes, Christmas challenge (a cushion), show and tell and bring a fat quarter to share in lucky dip and a dish to share if you like. Doors open at 7:30!

Reminder to all our members our next meeting is on next Thursday 10th of October and we are delighted to have our own Karen Cuneen-Bilbow as our guest speaker demonstrating how to make a patchwork lampshade.  We are also happy to welcome Seams So Simple back again for our shop.  Don't forget your show and tell and "There's always 1" quilts for the Knitting & Stitching Show.

Anyone who has not yet renewed their membership can pay on the night (€50 for the year) and €5 for meeting on the night. 

Guests are welcome and entry is €8.  Doors open at 7.30pm.