Quilts with an Angle: New Foolproof Grid Method & Easy Strip Cutting; 15 Projects with Triangles, Hexagons, Diamonds & More

INTRODUCTION

One of the things I love about quilting is that the design possibilities are endless. Whenever one design is completed, ideas for a myriad of others take its place. Ideas build on previous patterns from our quilting heritage and from different cultures, art, and architecture.

Each quilting technique has its own language. If you use squares and rectangles, you will understand what a half-square triangle is and how to cut a quarter-square triangle. You can find charts that tell you what size quarter-square triangle to cut to achieve a certain size of square. If you are an English paper-piecing aficionado, you understand that you can put together pieces with edges of equal sizes. These rules allow you to try out new ideas within the technique that you are most comfortable with.

In writing this book, I have tried to develop a set of techniques and a language that will allow quilters to play in a new sandbox—the 60° shape. Although these shapes have been widely used in quilts, there has never been a standard way of measuring for rotary cutting and machine piecing these shapes. Quilt designs based on a 60° grid can look very complex, but once they are broken down into blocks, you will see how easy it is to put them together.

When designing my blocks, I wanted to make sure that they could easily be sewn using straightforward rotary-cutting and machine-piecing techniques. All of the quilts in this book can be made by anyone who is used to cutting and sewing squares, rectangles, and half-square triangles. You will soon be making blocks and turning them into amazing quilts with an angle!

You can generate all sorts of interesting patterns with different placements of these blocks. Just like combining square-shaped blocks, the possibilities are endless.

Triangular Grids

The key to creating my blocks was to use a grid made up of triangles. Just as a square grid can be broken down into squares, rectangles, half-square triangles, and so on to create thousands of traditional blocks, a triangular grid can be combined into triangles, diamonds, parallelograms, trapezoids, hexagons, and jewels.

Four-patch square grid

Four-patch triangle grid

Nine-patch square grid

Nine-patch triangle grid

Sixteen-patch square grid

Sixteen-patch triangle grid

Thirty-six–patch triangle grid

The blocks in this book are mostly based on a sixteen-patch or a thirty-six–patch triangular grid.

Defining Patch Sizes

The width of an equilateral triangle—a 60° triangle—is not the same as its height. To make the patterns easy to understand, I refer to the finished height of a block or a shape throughout the book. For example, an 8˝ finished triangle starts out as 8½˝ high unfinished when cut using my strip method and a triangle ruler. (The width is approximately 9¼˝ finished and 9⅞˝ unfinished, but if you use a triangle ruler or follow the 60° lines on your ruler for cutting, you don’t have to worry about this.)

The Blocks

Most of the projects in this book are based on one of six triangle-shaped blocks that I have created, from very basic (like Simply Triangles) to a little more complex (like Tie Me in Knots). The blocks are either 8˝ or 12˝ finished height, but the techniques can be applied to any size of block.

Simply Triangles block

Peak block

Stack the Dishes block

Tie Me in Knots block

Tri-Hex block

Petal block

Why Measure by Height?

If you have done any English paper piecing, you may be used to measuring pieces along their edges. This makes sense when you are joining pieces by hand and when any shape can be made to match any other along the seam.

For my 60° patchwork system, measuring by height makes it simple to cut all of the pieces from standard-size strips using a rotary cutter and ruler. Triangle rulers are marked with lines that are easy measurements from the tip of the ruler, making it straightforward to cut any of the pieces in this book.

Quilt Settings

I have used two different types of setting designs to make very different quilts from the same block. In the straight setting, the blocks are set in rows. In the kaleidoscope setting, the tops of all the blocks point in toward the middle. There is no difference in the method of construction, as the triangle blocks are always sewn together in rows; it is how the blocks are oriented that creates the alternative patterns.

Take a simple block like this:

Here’s one way to put it into a straight setting.

Here’s an alternative straight Setting.

And here is the same block put into a kaleidoscope setting.

What a difference!

I am having so much fun with these designs, and I’m sure that the quilts in this book are just the beginning of my journey to explore the triangle grid and all the amazing quilts that can be created from them. Join me on this exciting adventure!

Mirror Mirror and Court and Spark

Watling Street and Bliss

GETTING STARTED

TOOLS

To get started with 60° shapes, you will need a basic set of tools used for standard patchwork. If you add a 60° triangle ruler, cutting will be much faster and easier.

Rulers

You will need a 6˝ × 24˝ ruler (or similar size). Useful additions to your ruler collection are a 6˝ × 12˝ rectangle, 6˝ × 6˝ square, and 12½˝ × 12½˝ square.

Cutting the shapes will be easier if you also have a 60° triangle ruler that is at least 8˝ in height—preferably 12˝. There are various brands available, but ensure that your ruler measures the height of the triangles and not the sides. If you can, add a smaller triangle ruler, as this is easier to handle when cutting smaller pieces.

There are many types of 60° rulers on the market to add to your collection of straight rulers.