Sunday, February 5, 2012

Triangles Galore... another try... success!

While Victoria and Jackie were beavering to create and test the paper piecing pattern for the Triangles Galore Block, I was stubbornly  doggedly determined to figure out why I had problems with my first effort and what to do to avoid them.  After all, some people were able to make the block just fine, while others reported problems.

Here's a picture of what caused my problems and hence ballooning center of the block. Note that upon sewing, the bottom (center bottom) triangle ends up wider than the three top sewn triangles.  This happened because I matched the points of the three top triangles and sewed the seam.  With that seam, there goes 1/4 inch on each side as far as the overall width is concerned.


To fix this, I decided I needed to know where all the seams intersect.  I measured 1/4 inch on all sides and put little hatch marks at the intersect points.


 Then I pinned the pieces AT THESE POINTS before sewing the seams.


 This little step made all the difference.  The triangle pieces were off set just enough that they lined up perfectly with the bottom triangle when it was sewn on.



The finished block.  No trimming down of the block required!  Whew!


If you should want to do the traditional piecing method, instead of paper piecing, it is very much worth your time to do the above step.

Bias edges will stretch easily, so pinning carefully and careful sewing will help keep those problems at bay.  Try not to make mistakes and rip out the threads.  Repeated unsewing will stretch the edges.  That is how I got the "wee bit of ballooning" when I finished my first block for the last time.

Hope this helps!paper piecing pattern for the Triangles Galore Block

CLICK FOR Victoria's FREE paper piecing PDF  HERE

9 comments:

Terry said...

Thanks for the road testing . I have been reading and waiting. Maybe today or maybe tomorrow after the GAME. Got to go with the flow.

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

PDF is up for paper piecing... It works either way! Have fun! PIN PIN PIN people! ;-)

pojo said...

the pdf file will not open u[

Richard Healey said...

That is a good idea to pin where they cross.

http://richardquilts.blogspot.com
Stop by for my quilt givaway to guess my babys b-day and weight.

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

yep, the pdf works... ;-)

Miki Willa said...

Thank you, Kathy. I had noticed that problem, but didn't know how to fix it. I appreciate you sharing your skills and knowledge.

sheila 77 said...

This is the way I did mine, and the design works perfectly and lies flat. As I don't have a quarter inch mark on my sewing machine, I marked all the seam lines on the fabric with a fine water soluble pen and it was easy to see where the joining points were when pinning and sewing.

Margaret said...

Kathy, love your block ... especially the pieced points!

Marlynne said...

Kathy: I loved the colors and patterns you picked for your Triangle Galore Block of course red and yellow are my favorite colors. I have never done paper piecing but need to try it! from Marlynne at mcreatesdaily.blogspot.com