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Saturday, June 6, 2009

3-D Half Square Triangle Tutorial

Here is how you can make a three dimensional half square triangle that will add real depth and delight to your quilts.
Fold your colored square in half diagonally, wrong sides together.
Lay your colored square on top of your background square, lining up the raw edges.
Baste 1/8" from the raw edges to secure the top fabric to the background fabric.  
When basting, lengthen your stitch as large as possible.  My machine goes to 4.  You could also baste by hand with a large stitch.
Remember to switch your stitch length back to your 'normal' length when assembling prepared blocks.  I use about a 2 1/2" length for my regular sewing stitch.
There is no need for squaring up and DO NOT press your folded edge!!  It is optimal to keep the rounded soft edge of the fold.
I've done some layouts of possible blocks using this technique. 
When assembling squares, use a 1/4" seam just as you would normally when putting squares together.  DO NOT PRESS! 
The above unit is a sneak peak on a special project I am working on!
The samples below are not sewn together, I just layed them out to show possible design.  The 1/8" basting threads would not be visible when you assemble the blocks using a 1/4" seam allowance.

9 comments:

Tina said...

Very neat. I love the technique .Thank you for sharing.

Kritta22 said...

oh it would be so hard not to iron!!!!!!!

looks awesome though!

Shari said...

Yeah. Hard not to iron. And quilting would go around it? A kid could have a lot of fun with those pockets! Thanks Mel!

Puppy Love said...

Those are so totally awesome!! I love them!

Coralie Cederna Johnson said...

Excellent presentation of this technique! Great job! Makes it so easy to follow!!!

Micki said...

What a neat technique. Thanks for the tutorial!
Micki

Dawn said...

Great tutorial Mel!! Thanks for sharing!

Jane's Fabrics and Quilts said...

Wow!1 Thank you, very clear and easy to understand, I think I need to try this!!

Karen from Sew Many Ways... said...

Thanks Mel for this tutorial. What a great design and so many options...it's got my mind going. Thanks for the inspiration!
~Karen~