Half square triangle are all cockeyed
 

I am making Jenny Doan's Big Star quilt and doing her way of making half square triangles. I already sewed the 10" blocks 1/4" around the edges of enough blocks to make a king size quilt. That is all done.

I cut apart enough of them to make one star and starched each half square block, put it on The Steady Betty and ironed the sewed edge while it was closed and then opened it and pressed it open. Every single one was so cockeyed all around the edges and down the sewed middle line.

Should I have waited for the starch to dry first before i ironed it? What am I doing wrong? Isn't the bias at the edges and not the center? The center was so crooked. I need help. I just ruined one star block and will not press another one until someone helps me. Please help me. Thanks.

I usually get better results starching my fabric before I cut it, rather than after is is sewn into a block. Unless you soaked it not sure why you would get the distortion. Is it oversized? If so you could trim it down

I soaked it. So I should spray it with starch before I cut it? Should I let it dry before I cut it? Iron it after I starch it before I cut it? Let it dry and then iron it before I cut it? I am afraid of ruining another block.

I didn't know her method so had to watch youtube ... very interesting way to make hst. Did you 'iron'? or did you 'press'? If you ironed then you may have stretched the fabric.

I use the grid method for my hst.
I.E. http://www.patchwork-and-quilting.co...triangles.html

I hope it all works out.

I think pressing damp material causes it to stretch, which seems to be what happened to your blocks. I firmly belong to the "make it big and cut it down" club. I once used precut squares and after I got the HSTs made I starched, pressed and trimmed them. You will lose quite a lot of finished size in your king size quilt, but maybe you could just make more, or add on a boarder. At least they would not be totally wasted.

That's the down side with this method of making HST, the sides are all on the bias. The only way i've been satisfied with the results is to starch the fabric a lot BEFORE cutting the squares and doing the stitching around the edges.
If you already have others cut, I would starch heavily and press using your steady betty to get them square, before joining them to other squares.

I starch my fabric as I press it after it's laundered. If I'm only using part of the fabric, I only press that part of it. After it's stitched I press the seam with a dry iron, open it up and press the block with a dry iron.
When I do the first starching, I spray it evenly and press immediately until it's dry.

If I'm following you, you end up seaming on the bias. Cut just two HST at a time and they'll be on the straight grain and much easier to deal wiht.

Thank you. I will starch them before I cut them. I drenched the first ones and think that is where I went wrong. I'll use Best Press instead and do a light spray of it. Thanks for the advice. Much needed. Don't like this way of making half squares. I'll never do it this way again.

In the future if you plan on making any half square triangles, quarter squares, and geese it is worth purchasing this CD called 'Triangulations 3.0' by Brenda Henning (Bear Paw Productions). Each unit comes is several sizes. You can print out the image and sew and cut on the lines. They come out perfectly. The CD is <$30 but is totally worth the money. It is like the 'trianglations on a roll' but you get so many sizes on the CD. I will probably use this forever or until something better comes along the way. Good luck!

Yes, I already sewed all the 10" squares around the edges 1/4". So I have to go from here.

I would starch alot before cutting the fabric.

I starch my fabric really really well before I cut then I NEVER put any more moisture on the block. Make a practice block then spray it and watch it curl up. Then when you press/iron the block it gets stretched because the fibers are relaxed. So my mantra is: Starch like crazy before cutting and use a dry​ iron thereafter.

Unfortunately you stretched by soaking after cutting. If they are sewn but not cut startch quickly. Just dry spray.

sounds like your pressed too hard and stretched your fabric.. this is the only way I do pinwheels and love the idea.. she does warn not to iron but press the fabric and hold the steam.. no steam.. so sorry this has occured. Bet you want to cry..

I still stand by her tips.. quilted over a dozen pinwheel quilts for charity using her method.

PS I do make sure the squares are "squared up" before sewing eachone together.. maybe that is the tip too..

Best of luck to you.
Ell

Oh, and I have never starched fabric. Are you not ironing before you match together before sewing? Oh boy.. such a sad thing to happen..

I use Best Press when starching. I put it in a 3 oz. non-aerosol hair spray bottle purchased from Sally's Beauty Supply. You can spritz a small area with a fine mist instead of soaking it with starch from regular spray bottle. This way the Best Press goes further, too. Don't iron down the length of the seam. Carefully finger press the seam open or use one of those little wood pressing tools, lower iron onto the area and hold in place a second. Once I have everything laying as it should I give the seam a light spritz and press again dry and to set seam in place. Takes a little time but I enjoy the crisp results.

I like your advice. I think I will try it. Thank you very much. Thank you all very much. I now know I soaked my fabric and did more than press the fabric. I moved it around. I will not do that again. I am using Best Press for now on. Thanks again!

I agree with stretching the fabric.

I hated making those untill i got the strip tube ruler , they are soooo easy to make in huge numbers i'll confess i'm hooked :)

I would never make HST the way Jenny does. Sure you get four at a time with no waste, but they are all bias edges. There are a lot better ways to make HST with straight edges.

I agree about all those bias edges. I prefer other methods that give straight edges..... But remember she is pushing precuts so must find ways of using them in the most effective ways.

Eleanor Burns shows how to make 8 at a time with squares and sewing an x. No bias edges.
Use 6 in sqs for 2 1/2 and just add 2 in for each size larger. 3 1/2 use 8 in squares.

I generally oversize and then trim my HST to size. If you like that method of making them, if it were me, I'd make the square bigger, say about and inch bigger , and them trim the squares to size.

Hey Maverick, where do you get the grid paper for this process?

I absolutely, positively, emphatically agree with Donnamarie about the Triangulations 3.0 CD. I'm a fussy mussy about my points matching and before Triangulations I avoided patterns that I loved that used HST and flying geese! Worth every penny of the cost of the CD. HST sizes on the CD from 1/2" ~ 7.5" in 1/16" increments...priceless! Plus it has the QST and flying geese templates...very easy to use.

If you are doing the larger blocked version of Jenny's quilt, I'm not sure I remember the size of the blocks but I don't think I'd use Triangulations for huge blocks.

All the advice given about starching before cutting and most important for me was to break my habit of ironing vs. pressing. Great thread to watch here with wonderful advice!

If there is something positive to this it would be that you made only one block. That is why I make one block at a time. If I mess up, it is only one block. The idea of sewing all of the units together and then doing all of the blocks at one time really scares me.

I rarely starch, but when I do, I will press the block first and then when it is flat, I will starch and press.

I have never done it Jenny's way. I will try it some day. But, I have made blocks with biased edges and did a stay stitch 1/8" on the bias edges to keep it from going wonky. This way that stay stitch gets hidden by the seam allowance.

I discovered that when making the half squares the way Jenny does it if you have to much pressure on your presser foot while sewing around the squares, it will stretch the fabric also and you have to be almost absolutely sure that each corner is exactly 1/4" or when you cut the triangles, they will be off and wonky.

What I like to do is open the hst and carefully finger press, then I press with a dry iron and hit it with a shot of steam, right on the seam line. The iron doesn't move except up and down. It does help with stretching.

I've used this method quite successfully but you do have to be careful. Jenny demonstrates with 5" squares - so bias sides are no where near as long as they would be with 10" squares. It is a great way to make pinwheels for a baby quilt. I think you just need to stick to smaller squares.

I starch, then press (not iron) then cut.

I am making her quilt and after I sewed all around the edges and then made the cuts, I had to square the blocks to 6 or 6.5 inches can't remover which but that was the problem for me. I have found that layer cakes do not always have squares that are exactly 10". Because of the differences in the original squares, it threw them all off. Hope this helps.