Does this pattern seem right, or is it me?
 

I saw this pattern for a wall hanging and thought it would look cute as a baby blanket:

http://www.sewcanshe.com/blog/2017/3...ilts-for-march

In the instructions, it says cut a square 3.5" then cut on the diagonal to make an HST. Okay. Then it says cut a rectangle 2" x 3.5" to be the flying geese beside it. I get that the 3.5" side will attached to the side of the 3.5" square cut on the diagonal, but after sewing the triangles together the HST won't be 3.5" any more. So shouldn't the rectangle be smaller? Or does that accommodate the points of the triangles on the edges of the flying geese?

I am thinking it might be easier to do this as fat French braid instead, but I'm not sure yet. I'm still playing with dimensions to get a proper sized blanket out of it.

i saw that pattern and saved it for my to do list. i don't like the way it is pieced at all. i was planning on adding a white strip to the end of each color rectangle and doing it like a french braid. the short black lines are where my seams would be
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Well it certainly would be easier to do it QuiltNan's way. Way fewer seams to match. Very pretty tho. I think it would make a nice runner.

It does seem odd. I would try leaving a message on the blog asking about the measurements.

As to the measurements - I also think they are off.

As to the assembly style - QuiltnNan's way sure would be easier. A lot fewer seams to deal with.

In fact, I was surprised at how many seams there were when I looked closely at it. Yuck.

the best thing about doing a fat french braid is you won't have your large pieces with lots of cuts in them. Then you could use more focus fabric that you didn't want seam lines in.

The measurements look fine, read through all the directions and then go back up. Some of the drawings aren't in scale with each other. I prefer cutting methods that don't have that much waste.

BTW - you don't CUT on the diagonal, you sew on the diagonal and then cut off the extra - like the "covered corner" method they do with the FG. You won't be cutting anything across the diagonal, but 1/4" away after you sew.

That is cute! Don't forget when you make your flying geese you will lose your seam allowance as well. The flying geese unit doesn't line up with the hst does it? Only half of the flying geese unit looks like it lines up with the hst. I would make a sample of each unit to help understand how she has designed it. ( I have just briefly read through the pattern though)

This is the part I missed! I just read HST and thought it meant make two -- way too wasteful otherwise. I also thought that many patterns wouldn't play well with those kinds of cuts, especially directional ones. I am not sure how to calculate dimensions doing it the fat French braid way, but I think I will play with it and see.

Thanks for the input!

Look again at how she makes the 1/2 square triangle. She is sewing right along the middle, and trimming a wing, not cutting the square in half. So you will still have the full 3.5" when you are done. Looks like it will work, but I'm in the crowd of "not at all how I'd piece that quilt".

It does not look "hard" to assemble - I think QuiltnNan's way would look nicer and be easier.

I like the French braid method. I've got my engineering son working on a formula to calculate quilt dimensions based on the size of the braids. That much math is beyond me.

this seems like a great quilt to showcase your favorite fabrics.

I also looked at the pattern and though of the way QuiltnNan described doing hers. Should I decide to make one I'll be doing it the easy way!

The pattern writer appears to be designing for the use of a pre-cut, yes? In which case her method of construction makes sense. If you use yardage obviously other construction methods are a better choice.

Ah - that explanation makes sense.

Or if one wanted to use odd bits and pieces that one would have.

I remember when people would use those leftovers from clothing - and one had to "make do" and cut one piece at a time around a template.

She suggests using 10" squares, but she could have done it as QuiltnNan describes and cut the pieces from the 10" squares without having to piece them like this.

I've noticed that some modern quilt designers have a hard time making quilts with diagonals, without using hordes of HST's. Her method is clever if you like HST's, but a bit cumbersome if you don't.

I really like QuiltnNan's way. Thanks!

I am so glad that all of you have such good advice on all of these sites, you save me from making so many mistakes. Thanks to all of you. I am really math challenged. :)