Another new guy question: Triangle cuts

[jbrewer]

Sorry for hurting everyone's brain! I have my solution. First off, I made an error in the wording of my explanation. A 30-60-90 triangle has the short side as n and the hypotenuse (side opposite the right angle) as 2n--not sqrt3*n! I knew this but didn't explain it correctly.

My problem is with the points. If I am allowing for a 1/4in seam allowance, will the angle of the seam throw me off? Well, as one user posted: it just works out. I guess I have to quit trying to analyze it and just do it! One problem I can foresee having is heavy bulk where all the points meet up. Maybe I can trim enough excess or find a workaround.

From a side note, math is very scary for some rightfully sew (hehe), but it ALWAYS makes sense. Is 2+2 ever anything but 4? How about the graph of sin2x. ALWAYS the same. dy/dx of 2? ALWAYS 0. Math is very black and white. English not so much. How many ways to say hello? Hi, howdy, hello, afternoon, evening, etc.

I appreciate all the responses. I hope I'm not disrupting the flow of this forum. It's good to think outside of the box. You might come up with a new idea.

I have studied Penrose tiles and am very interested. A very unique situation indeed. The pythagoreus pattern is also on my list. So many quilts....so many quilts...

[K. McEuen]

As to the bulk, when making triangles you can trim the tips off that are in your seam allowance to some degree and that will help reduce bulk. They are called dog-ears and need to be trimmed. Some triangle templates already take the point off while you are cutting.

[GuitarGramma]

I just want to make sure that you realize it's best to think of this quilt as the joining of half hexagons. Trying to sew a bunch of hexagons to each other requires the fussy precision of Y-seams, a task I've managed to avoid in twenty-plus years of quilting. Half hexagons also greatly reduce the problems of all those little points coming together.

[Sylvia H]

In addition to Guitar Gramma's important advice about the 1/2 hexies (to avoid the infamous Y seams!), are you aware that when you cut triangles, you are cutting on the bias, which is the stretchiest part of the fabric? Too much handling of the bias causes the material to stretch out of shape, and you lose the dimensions of the block you are trying to make. One way to help avoid this is to heavily starch the material before cutting. The other methods that have been mentioned are using sewn strips to create your joined triangles and foundation piecing.

[stitchwishes]

Have you made a test block? There is a whole lot of thinking and excitement going on, but this is fabric -- sometimes you have to make 2 + 3 7/8 = 4 and then cross your fingers that it quilts out, lol!

[GuitarGramma]

Sorry for hurting everyone's brain! I have my solution. First off, I made an error in the wording of my explanation. A 30-60-90 triangle has the short side as n and the hypotenuse (side opposite the right angle) as 2n--not sqrt3*n! I knew this but didn't explain it correctly.

I'm really sorry to ask this, but are you sure about your 30-60-90 triangle? I thought the Pythagorean Theorem states that a-squared + b-squared = c-squared. How do you get 2*n for the hypotenuse (or in my parlance, 2*a)?