Another diagonal quilt question

[Eriepatch]

Has anyone tried to make a diagonal quilt with this method?
Here is a picture and links to two instruction pages.



Easy Quilt page 1

Easy Quilt page 2

[Eriepatch]

So is this what some of you were saying....the triangles will be on bias and it will be hard to
add a border?

[Sylvia H]

If you follow this pattern, the edges of all the cut squares (AKA triangles) will be bias edges. Bias edges stretch very easily. As you are trying to attach a border, those bias edge may stretch, causing them to distort and become longer than they should be. If you cut the border to fit before the stretching, the border will not be long enough. But if you make the borders longer to accommodate stretching, the quilt will not lie flat, and there will be "waves" where the border is attached.

To help avoid such stretching, when sewing on the bias cut, quilters often heavily starch the material, and handle it very, very carefully to try to avoid the stretching. That is something you could consider.

Did you realize that this quilt is not made from 5" charm squares? The squares are 5.5" before sewing, and they are all cut from yardage. You could, of course, use 5" charms, and either make a smaller quilt, or add more charms to get to the size you want.

I have not made an "on point" quilt, but I have made two table runners and a table topper "on point". Maybe it is because I have already done it with setting triangles that I prefer that method, but knowing about the problems with having all the edges of the quilt top on the bias, I wouldn't use this technique.

[IndyQltr78]

This is the quilt I made similar to the pattern you flagged. I can't find my pattern, but it was very easy. Basically, however many squares you sew across, you double that number for the squares down. This is necessary for the diagonal cuts.

The pattern suggests using a light weight stabilizer where you cut the diagonal lines because you will have a long bias seam. I think I cut a 2 inch wide strip of fusible stabilizer and ironed this to the diagonal of the quilt. Once the quilt is put back together, the diagonals are along the outside edges of the quilt. The finished quilt is a square. I wanted mine slightly larger so I used a thin inner boarder and a wider outer border.

Have fun and show us the finished quilt.

[Eriepatch]

Ugh....it all sounds too complicated for me haha
I think I'll find a different pattern for my 3 charm packs!
Thanks for your input everyone. I don't think I'm ready
for a diagonal quilt yet!

[LizTheScot]

You definitely don't have to use your squares on point to make an interesting pattern. Depending on the amount of contrast you have, you can use color/pattern to create additional shapes just by planning out which squares you place where, or you can go for a completely random / scrappy look. The joy of the charm pack is that you know all the colors are going to play nicely together. We're all looking forward to seeing what you create - I'm sure it's going to be great!