I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

[Carol336]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Carol, this is such a coincidence. I'm sewing snowballing corners and just put down a line of washi tape on my machine to help me. My tape doesn't have the nice lines that this does, but it is working well for me.

Jeanette - I' m not sure what washi tape is. Can you give me a little more info on it and also - how do you know exactly where to place the tape to get an accurate 45 degree seam. Dumb questions I know, but I struggle with this so danged much.

[Thayer Abaigael]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Jeanette how do you know exactly where to place the tape to get an accurate 45 degree seam. I struggle with this so danged much.

I know this feeling so much. It's why I searched for another way, so that I wouldn't have to work out the whole 45 degree angle while I was sitting at my machine.

The tape method is implemented by lining up the edge of the tape (or the markings if it's already printed on the tape), with your needle position, and then running it down the front of your machine.

I used this as my main method, but I would still have issues, and I had to spend time carefully lining up my pieces correctly. First, making sure my strips were positioned in the correct perpendicular, so that the seam would be stitched and the result would be a straight join, instead of a corner. Second, that I laid my pieces correctly, missing any selvages and that the long edges would line up. And third, that my stitch would stay straight, or else my strip would have a wonkiness at the join.

I believe that if I were a a master journeywoman quilter like many here, none of this would seem difficult.

Please believe me when I tell y'all, though, it has been a struggle, even after practicing and doing it a ton. At the risk of being kicked off the forum for being unseasoned, may I suggest that my method has been incredibly helpful to me and I only brought it here because I thought there may be another quilter who was struggling, too, and I wanted to give them this other option. I apologize and can delete my post.

[CraftyJnet]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Washi Tape is decorative, removable masking tape. It comes in varying widths but most are small widths, like 1/2 inch. It comes in a bajillion different styles. You can get just about any pattern you can think of. https://www.scrapbook.com/store/prod...w=washi%20tape or https://www.etsy.com/search?q=washi%20tape

I placed it on my machine with the edge of the washi tape where the center line would be, for sewing corner-to-corner. But you could easily use it to mark your 1/4 seam. I don't quite understand how to use it for a 45 degree seam. I struggle with that too.

[GuitarGramma]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Thayer, your idea is brilliant. I am so incapable of joining strips successfully!

Also, welcome to the forum. Please don't think that other members who offered other ideas were crticizing your method. What you did was share a brilliant idea with, may I say, excellent photo-illustrations, and thus start a very interesting thread. You'll find that once one good idea is offered, like yours, other members will join in to share what's also worked for them. We all love your innovation!

And wherever you do, please don't delete your thread! I'm on the road and will need to refer back to your post when I get home!

[grammaterry]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Never take offense when you post your ideas. We are all sharing and like all before me, some things work better for one than another. I enjoy reading all of the ideas and try to try them. Practice makes us all better. Believe me, when I first came to the forum, I had no idea how to do things...I mean nothing. I had made lots of quilts but none were better than warm blankets. Now, I think I have created some quilts worth saving.

[MSN]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Creative brains are not all wired the same way. What makes sense to one quilter may not necessarily work for another. That's why it's so important to learn different methods to achieve the desired results. Thayer Abaigael, thank you for sharing a tip that works for you. I guarantee that you have helped someone else who faces the same struggle. Personally, I always have to think hard about how to line up those strips and then where to sew. I'm going to give your method a try.

[bakermom]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

nice tutorial!. Thanks for sharing.

[Spiff]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Thanks. I am going to try this the next time as I often struggle with my binding strips.

[Claire Hallman]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

I meant the ends of the strips, not bias binding. When I cut the binding strips, I line all the strip ends up on the lines on my mat and cut them all in one fell swoop on a 45% angle, fast and easy.

I took some pictures when I did this yesterday.IMG_1064.JPGIMG_1065.JPG

[jjkaiser]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Claire, I looked at your photo and also the photos on the original post. Your ends are a straight 45 degree cut. Hers it looks like she placed the ruler at both the 45 degree angle and 1/4 inch from the bottom edge of her ruler. Is this because she used a special triangle ruler? Does it make any difference, that is, is this just two different methods to achieve the same end result? I suppose I could just go find some scraps and practice but I have a headache from waiting 1.5 hours at the Soc. Sec. office and I am just lazy lol.

[Claire Hallman]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Hers won't have as many dog ears but mine can be done for all the strips at once. It amounts to about the same thing.

[jjkaiser]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Hers won't have as many dog ears but mine can be done for all the strips at once. It amounts to about the same thing.

Thanks!! That's kind of what I thought.

[Thayer Abaigael]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Hers it looks like she placed the ruler at both the 45 degree angle and 1/4 inch from the bottom edge of her ruler. Is this because she used a special triangle ruler? Does it make any difference, that is, is this just two different methods to achieve the same end result?

With my method, when I put my two ends together to sew, I can line up the bias edges exactly on top of each other, and I don't have to eyeball an offset for the 1/4" seam:
Strip Bias Seams Getting Ready to Stitch - accented seam.jpg

Also, when I am getting ready to cut the bias, I can stack a bunch of strips, as many as my rotary cutter will go through. If it's sharp, that can be upwards of a dozen, or so.

[toggpine]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

If you like the ease of this method, check out the Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates.
They seem fussy at first, but it eliminates trimming dog-ears later and most pinning. I make most of my pieced quilt blocks with them. They are clear, so fussy cutting is easy. The acrylic holds up well to rotary cutting. I can get 6-8 strips done accurately.

[MaggieSue]

Re: I Disliked Joining Strips - I Started Using QR's Mini-Triangle Ruler

Thayer thank you so much for this suggestion and the photos, always willing to try a new method!!!