Originally Posted by
citruscountyquilter
I ..... have a Quilt in a Day ruler for squaring up that works great too. With this ruler you don't press your HST open but rather put the marking of the ruler along the stitching line and trim the two sides. Since the HST is still folded at this point by trimming the two raw edge sides you are actually trimming all four. ......
I'll tell you why I don't care for rulers like this for squaring up HSTs, especially in beginning classes.
When HSTs are pressed open, it's nearly impossible NOT to make that diagonal seam do something slightly wonky which will distort the block. The smaller the HST, the more likely you are to distort it. (This is true for seaming narrow or small things, too; the less width you have, the fewer threads you have to 'hide' slight errors.)
After 30 years of teaching, I've gotten settled in my choices of tools, in many cases. The Bias 8 ruler was not designed necessarily for this squaring up use. it was meant for cutting HSTs from two strips sewn together. Of course, THAT makes all the sides be on the bias, which drives me absolutely nutty in classes -- my focus is on teaching ways to make things easier for beginners, not giving techniques that are open for frustrations! And bias is a frustration for many beginners! Why use those bias edges when it's just as easy not to?!
Any way, I've been after Martingale to make this Bias group of rulers in a 12" size to be used like I suggest; it will work for all blocks, not just HST, etc. So those of you who have it, and are wise enough to train yourself to use it often (like in EVERY block as I do
), write to Martingale to ask for them to make us a 12" Bias Ruler WITH THE SAME MARKINGS as the Bias 4,6, and 8"!!
I keep waiting!
Jan in VA