I cut some of my ABC Pals panels too small.
Instead of 12 1/2 I've cut them 11 1/2.
Now for some reason my thinking cap is not working.
The strip sets are 2 1/2 inches. Blocks are 4 1/2. How do I make this work?
I don't want to buy more panels. I know I have to trim the 2 1/2 and the 4 1/2 " but how much??? :oops:

hard to be sure without knowing what pattern you're going for, but it sounds like you'll have to cut all the panels to the same size...11 1/2 inches...or, add a sashing to the smaller ones to take them backup to the 12.5. If you add the sashing, you won't have to worry about math on the other blocks at all. The easiest way to do it ( but perhaps wasting a little fabric, is to simply cut a strip of coordinating fabric at least one and a half inch wide and stitch it to all four sides...once stitched and ironed, cut out your larger square to match the other panels.

Got that. What I'm stuck on is the setting strips to make up the alternate 11 1/2 block.
In the orginal pattern for the 12 1/2 block the strips where 2 1/2 and 4 1/2.

can you post a photo of your pattern? it's hard to picture what you're describing.

The bad thing is that your new measurements don't fall on a nice even fraction. The way I read your dilemma is that you need to sew 3 smaller squares together and they need to add up to 11.5"

The math gets a little hairy but here is what I would do:

Cut the strips at 2 3/8" (you can either cut them skinny or make a wider seam allowance)

Sew them together to where your block is approximately 4 3/16"

3 blocks at 4 3/16" will get you to 11.5" blocks. You may need to fiddle with the seam allowance a tiny bit.

If you want to understand the math:
It will take a total of 1" seam allowance by the time you sew the 3 squares together, so 11.5" plus 1" = 12.5"

Divide 3 into 12.5" = 4.17" that is the size of each square. Looking at the decimal equivalency chart, .17 falls close to 3/16" so I would make my squares 4 3/16" square and adjust the seam allowance to match to the big square.

Now how to get to the 4 3/16" square.
If it is made by sewing 2 strips together, then it will need a 1/2" seam allowance 4.18 plus .5 = 4.68 Divided by 2 = 2.34" (The width of each stripe) That is an even wonkier number on the decimal list so I would cut the strips a skinny 2 3/8"

I could cut the panels 10 1/2 inches. May be the simplest thing to do.

Do you have an illustration of the pattern? One may have come with what you purchased?

why not frame the blocks to bring them back up to the 12 1/2" they should be? that would simplify your dilema.