Equilateral diamonds?
 

I seem to be having a world of issues with these guys. I'm making a 8 pointed star and need to cut out the diamonds. I only have my standard quilters ruler and the rotary cutter. I've looked at several tutes showing how to cut these things but I'm still coming out wonky. What am I doing wrong.?

I personally RUN from any pattern with diamonds. Everything has to be absolutely perfect. Your cutting, your seams and where you pin the two diamonds together for a seam. That is why there are notches in the diamond rulers so they the cut pieces are placed correctly. Pressing can also wonk a diamond out of shape. Hope you starched your fabric well.

You cut your strips at say 2 1/2 inches. Place the 45 deg line of your ruler along the bottom of your strip and trim off one end. Now, with that 45 deg line still on the long edge of fabric, measure 2 1/2 inches from the end you just cut off.

Determine the distance from one side to opposite side (not point to point). Cut a strip that wide. Use the 60 degree angle marked on your ruler to make the first cut on one end, then measure from the 60 degree cut with the straight side of the ruler the same distance as the width of your strip and cut there. Once the angle is cut at the beginning of the strip the rest of the strip can be cut parallel to that cut.

Diamonds can be of many shapes. You need to know the angles for the diamonds you are trying to make. cjsews suggests a 45 degree angle, Kat sews suggests 60 degrees - your diamond is probably one of these, but you must measure to know for sure.

If you go to You tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QpLyjeeEJA
Sometimes it helps to actually see how to set your ruler.

Good luck!

These are 45 degree cuts. I got the first cut and one diamond to turn out right, after that it went down hill. The video helped a lot and showed me I was cutting backwards. I'll try it again and see what I come up with but I may have to go get some more fabric and a square ruler. I need 6 of the stars and they're all the same color so with 8 equilateral diamonds in each star I should have the 45 cuts down pat when I get done.

crocee... if you are making an 8 point star, I think you are to use the 45 degree, a 6 point star would be 60 degrees....someone correct me on my math if I'm wrong. :o)

This 8 point star uses 45 degree cuts, not sure about the others.

Anytime I am cutting a shape on the bias I starch my fabric first. It makes a world of difference. I usually have 3-4 applications of starch. I spray the fabric lightly and roll it up and put it in a plastic bag like we used to do back in the day with sprinkling clothes before we ironed them. Once the starch has had time to absorb into the fibers of the fabric I iron it and then repeat the process a few more times. Yes, it does take some time but well worth it to reduce the headaches that bias edges present when they stretch.

I don't know what size strip you are starting out with - it really doesn't matter.

Cut the angle you want - 45 degree if you want an 8-pointed star -
60 degree if you want a 6-pointed star.

Maybe the attached scans will help ?

The angled line/cut is LONGER than the width of the fabric -

In the 45 degree one - the drawing is for a 2 inch strip -
To get all four sides to be the same length, the second cut is approximately 2-3/4 inches away from the first cut.

In the 60 degree one - the drawing is for a 2 inch strip
To get all four sides to be the same length, the second cut is approximately 2-1/4 inches away from the first cut.

Luckily this stuff doesn't stretch so I don't think I really need the starch. When I washed it it didn't even unravel at the cut edges. If it wasn't so heavy I wouldn't mind working with it all the time. Its canvas and heavier weight than denim.

Thank you so much for the drawing. This really helps a lot.

Also, expect to "retrue" up your angle every 3rd or 4th cut. It is surprising how quickly you can go off. One thing that helped was making a paper template to periodically test my cuts against.

I have also noticed that when cutting strips. :shock:

Sometimes it is worth the effort to make an accurate template and then I don't need to "think" as much while I am cutting.

I think this info was interesting.

http://www.mathsisfun.com/quadrilaterals.html


A lot of it is in the "A cat is a mammal, but a mammal may or may not be a cat" category.

First off, those are not equilateral triangles, which by definition are 60 degrees for each corner. Like above, you need to use 45 degree angles.

Remember to starch or Best Press before you cut so that the sides don't get stretched.

I do use a diamond template by Fast2Cut Rulers and check the angle each time. I guess I do have some OCD.

Try using template plastic and tracing your patches if the ruler method isn't working out for you. Regardless of which method you use to cut your star patches, one way to tell if they are cut accurately is to fold the patch in half, point to point. The sides of the long points should be the same length.

I got the 12 1/2 square ruler to help with this but now I'm wondering if I cut a triangle of the correct size on the fold if it wouldn't come out easier and the same?

Woo Hoo I've finally got the idea of what I'm doing. I've got 9 of 48 diamonds cut and things are rolling along smoothly. Thank you ALL for your tremendous help. I'm sure I'll be back shortly with other questions.

I agree. Someday, I am going to feel confident enough to make diamonds quilt. Or may be someone will develop a magic method for piecing them :-) Good Luck in your endeavors!!!

Try laying them out now to make sure that they are doing what you expect/want them to.

They go together just like they're supposed to, although they are a bit larger than I had planned. Oh well, the entire pad will just have to be made a tad bit larger.

You "lose" quite a bit when the pieces are put together.

Thanks. The squares are "supposed" to be 10" but I think they might be a tad bigger in the end. The 3 star blocks will determine the width of the pad so it won't be a huge thing to enlarge.

Why are you piecing canvas....just wondering......

Its for a show pad on a horse. Regular cotton quilting fabric would fall apart after the first show.

I could never make a lone star quilt even took a class once seams never matched I got the Eleanor Burns book on it and was very easy never had a problem after that and did not use a special ruler but Eleanor always has wonderful instructions and her books are wirth the price

There are 360 degrees in a circle so if you want a 6 pointed star, you cut 60 degree diamonds (since 6 x 60 = 360) and if you want an 8 pointed star, you cut 45 degree diamonds since 45 x 8 = 360. You can get crazy and draft other sizes too, as long as they are a total of 360 degrees.....

One way to do diamond is the English paper piecing - I am doing it for the tumbling blocks. For a test I did a star - it worked very well.

Dodie, what was the name of the book by Eleanor Burns, if she tells how to do it then I know I can following her directions.
Jeri