Kirsten,
have you seen Paula Nadelstern's Kalidescope quilts, a real art form.
I tried a couple and was pleased with them. What I did was used a 45 degree triangle piece of plastic. Positioned it on fabric where I wanted it and traced portion of fabric design so I could cut all 8 wedges exactly alike. When sewed together amazing designs are produced. Ms. Nadelstern carries this out to the ultimate by using many fabrics to create one wedge and then duplicates it 6 (this would be 60 degree triangle) or 8 times
I didn't find them difficult to do, but you must be precise in the tracing so you cut each piece exactly the same. I never tried the method where you stack the fabrics with the designs exactly alike, it sounded to hard to me to get them all lined up. I also have 2 mirrors taped together on one edge, using that as the point of the triangle that will be the center of kalidescope you can get an idea of how kalidescope will look.
hope this helps, have fun
pat