Chay

I think I should know how to do this but I'm driving myself nuts. I made blocks out of a charm square that is then bordered on all four sides. The blocks ended up being about 8". I want to trim them to 7 1/2" but I want to trim the same amount from all 4 sides because the border around the charm square needs to be the same width on all 4 sides. Helpppppp....

jtapp9

If you are wanting to make it a 1/2" smaller then I would think you would take 1/4" off each side. That would be what I would do.

quiltsRfun

You need to trim off a total of 1/2 inch.
Trim 1/4 inch from top and 1/4 inch from bottom = 1/2 inch.
Trim 1/4 inch from R side and 1/4 inch from L side = 1/2 inch.

jtapp got it first. At least we know that great minds think alike. :)

stewyscrewy

if you had a square template that was 7 1/2 it would be easy. What I do is to trim an 1/8 off of one side and rotate and put cut line on the 7 7/8 mark on your cutting mat. then trim the opposite side. after doing both sides I rotate it once more. Then I would put that cut line on a horizontal line and keep it squared with the top, then take 1/4 in. slice off of the other 2 sides now. now with that done rotate to the side you 1st cut and trim off the last 8/th

erstan947

I don't know if I can explain this very well, but, this is what I do. I find the center of the block size on the ruler I'm going to use. (in this case I would be using my 12.5" ruler. I mark with a black marker a dot at 3 3/4 inch. Line up my block with the center of the block and the black dot on my ruler. You will be cutting off approx a 1/4" all the way around. However I use the center to be sure it is squared up and is a 7 1/2" block when I'm through. Hope this helps get you started on the right track.

Cyn

I use my square ruler that's the right size but then not everyone has that size do they.

Chay

Thank you erstan947, your description worked perfectly and helped me to understand the logic behind trimming based on the center point. It had me stymied! Now only 34 more blocks to trim! Thanks again.