I need star help
 

I'm in the process of planning a quilt for my daughter, a 6 point rainbow star quilt. I've looked all over the web for a pattern, but not finding anything. My problem? I am planning on cutting it all out using the 4.5 inch (4.25 finished) equilateral triangle cutting die from AccuQuilt. I also would like to make it queen sized, if possible. Each star will have the 6 colors of the rainbow.

The problems I'm running into is:
1) how many triangles will I need total
2) how many across and down for the graph paper to plan it on, and
3) how do I figure out how many yards of fabric will I need for the 7 colors (6 for the star and one for the background).

From what I can figure out so far on the graph paper I have, I'm going to end up with 4 stars for one row, and 3 stars for the next row. If it would help, here is a scan:
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I colored in one of the stars, to show what the plan is. The two at the bottom were other concepts I was working with, but my daughter didn't care for them. So how do I proceed?

Hi, and welcome to the board! I love triangle quilts, and your design is beautiful. I just need a bit more info to finish the calculations:

Do you plan on putting borders on the quilt, or do you want triangles/stars all the way to the edges?
Can I use your estimate of 49 triangles per yard in my calculations?

Howdy from Texas & welcome to the boards. I can't help you with the stars but this board is full of highly knowledgeable quilters who will be along to help you out.

You can use the estimate, since I got it from the AccuQuilt site. Right now, I think I will carry the triangles all the way to the edge.

Ok, I would do 7 stars across, and 8 rows. This will make your quilt 88" wide x 91.5" long (approx). It will give you about 1 star hanging down on each side and at the foot (no pillow tuck). This will require 52 stars in all, arranged 7/6/7/6/7/6/7/6/7/6.

You will need 104 triangles of each of the 6 colours in the star. At 49 triangles, per yard, 2 1/4 yards should be enough, but I would do 2 1/2 yards each to be on the safe side.

You will need about 310 whole background triangles, and 50 half-triangles to square up the edges. I would cut them whole and then trim off when it's all assembled, but that assembly method is really up to you. This will be about 7.5 yards of background. Again, I would buy 8 yards (or even 9), just to be safe.

Have fun, and post pictures when you're done! :)

Jennifer23, Can I worship the ground you walk on???? I've been going nuts trying to figure this out, how did you do it???

Thank you so much!!!!!!

Ok, couldn't help myself... I had to do a mock-up of the whole thing. Of course, after I finished I realized you had used pink instead of orange, but it gives the idea. The grey line is the top of the bed, so the outside will be hanging down. I love it!

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Math is my thing :) People I work with are sometimes surprised that I quilt, but not when I describe it as a nice geometry-based hobby.

My daughter is my Rainbow Baby. Love her to death, and all the other quilts I've looked at hasn't peaked her interest until I did a star mug rug. She fell in love with the design, so I thought, why not make her a quilt in that design. Now I can't wait to get the fabric to start on this.

And I tried to use orange, but guess my scanner decided it was pink.

And before I forget, I showed my daughter your mock-up and she went nuts over it.

Kythcat, what an awesome design. I am looking forward to seeing your completed quilt.

Jennifer, I would love to have your math skills.

This is awesome!!! It's going to be a gorgeous quilt!

I can also see cubes in this design. Anyone else?

There is the secondary design because the double triangles make a diamond. And when you put the three diamonds together you get a cube. I am using the diamond shapes to make a tumbling block quilt.

I have the triangle die from Accuquilt and hope some time to make a quilt of triangles. The one you have planned looks fabulous.

The mock up is fantastic, I am going to show it to my daughter, she may get the same quilt!! Good luck with your project, show picture when done.

I did also. Very cool design!

I did, too! :)

that's a wonderful talent!

Yup, I saw the blocks too!

Jennifer23, your mockup is wonderful. Kythcat, this will be a wonderful gift for your daughter. You could do 2 things, if you wished, for variety: you could "spin the stars" when you sew rows together; and/or make some of the stars with slight variants of the original colors. These variants could include things like lavender or purple for the blue or different shades of the original colors.

Oh, my goodness, Jennifer23! How awesome. Not only do I see stars with your design, but tumbling blocks also. My I please use your design?

I don't know about Jennifer, but feel free to use the design.

The stars sometimes get lost in the tumbling blocks. This is an optical illusion. The tumbling blocks can be seen more than one way, too.

This is why I Love this group. I have that die, and have never used it, now I will. And between the graph drawing, and Kythcat's explanation and drawing thst just sealed the deal. Thank you ladies
karensue

I also see the cubes.

My two cents here - I'd assemble it in rows. Since you will be dealing with bias edges, you might want to starch the fabrics before cutting out. Then sew the triangles together in rows, then assemble the rows.


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Peckish has a great idea for putting them together. You wouldn't have to make your rows all the way down. Sew together about eight triangles in a row. Make the rows of eight all across the quilt. Then start on the next set of eight. Putting the sections together would be easy.
By doing it in sections, it would be easier to see if your colors are in the right places.