is anybody familiar with this technique? i saw the videos and it looks like an easy method but the equipment is pricey and i don't want to spend the money on it unless someone can recommend it.

it depends on the books for the patterns usage and the books also are pricey. i would buy it if.......

i can't find the ruler on ebay at auction prices. i won't pay, i think, $19.95 for plastic.

I do have this ruler and the couple patterns that came with the ruler. I rather like it. I actually took a class at my LQS to learn how to use it. I am hoping to take a class by Jody Barrows, who came up with this idea, in September through my LQS again. I enjoyed the first class but need a little more practice with it too!
Just my opinion but I hope it helps!
:-) Kendra

if i buy the book alone could i use a regular ruler with 45 degree angles? what other angles are used?

http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/45/14118.page

I made this quilt using that method. I like this ruler/method a lot since I get perfect points, althought you do waste fabric more than you would had you do it the traditional way.

See page 4 for finished quilt.

the points look great!

are all of the quilts this easy or are some of them for more advance quilters?
did you feel that you could have done it with only the book and a different ruler? does the book explain it well, and with pics? i have so many rulers already.

i'll bump for you.


bump

here are the things that make me hesitate: (1) very expensive (even though i'd save money by skipping the classes and just following the book); (2) wastes a lot of fabric; (3) the technique leaves you with bias seams all the way around the blocks. i suppose you could avoid that by cutting strips on the bias to begin with so that you come back to straight edges, but that's just more fabric in the scrap bag; and (4) what if i forked out all that dough and found i didn't like it?

if, on the other hand, a person likes collecting scraps and using them in follow-on quilts the waste isn't really waste. it's just pre-cutting for future projects. and she did have a blast in class, which has a value that's hard to calculate. if you follow the lessons through the whole book, you'll make a variety of quilts after just one time through. and you'll have a versatile tool you can use for years to come.

whether or not it's "too expensive" depends on how much fun you have using it, how many quilts you think you'll make using it in the future, how much time and stress it will save you if you don't want to use traditional methods to make those types of blocks, and - of course - whether or not you can afford to divert that much money from your fabric budget.

a friend of mine has the ruler and the book. she also took a class that required more than one session over a period of weeks. by the time you add up all those costs, it's a very expensive tool. i'm not terribly interested in it for myself, but my friend loves using it and swears up and down it was worth every penny.

since i'm kind of adventurous and kind of, let's say,frugal, i thought if i had any ruler with angular markings what the heck? right so far? then all i would need would be the book. if that has clear directions for the first one, then i have it made in the shade! reading the book, i might be able to judge the amount of waste and the amount of nuisance biases. you're right. it may not be worth it. but speed has it's value also. and maybe with careful cutting i can make use of the waste, not by cutting closer, but by starting with slightly larger pieces so that i'm left with pieces large enough to use again. or something. i would love to see the book. i would have to buy it to do that, unfortunately. unless some kid soul wants to copy one pattern instruction and mail it to me. i have no shame!

You might want to check out:
http://www.makeitsimpler.com/simply_quilts.html
and click on super fast rotary cutting. Anita Solomon makes a square on point look easy.
Mary Ellen

Wow. That really does look easy! I think starching fabric before cutting is the best way to keep bias edges stable.

that is remarkable! i have two of her books, but never used them.. i got them cheap when a store went out of business.

the fast rotary cutting is terrific. i have to roll that around in my head and see if it would work for another pattern, but even if not, i love that one.

thanks so much. i really love it.

how in the world did you find that? i thought alex anderson wasn't giving anything away anymore unless you signed up for with-fee lessons.

I have the ruler and book but just dont use it. Have to learn all over every time and it does waste fabric.

If you use a center sq that is cut at 4 3/4 in then use two 4 in sqs cut on the diagional. Press the center sq in half both ways so you have a line to line up the point of the triangles to. Sew on triangles then sq up to 6 1/2 inchs. This fits into a 12 in sq very nicely.

what are you squaring up to 6.5"? if you cut and fold and attach, it makes your 12" square in square. i don't get the 6.5" part.

Hi,

Ihave the ruler and an additional one that makes it possible to make bigger squares. There are ways to use it that don't waste so much fabric. I have two quilts that I used that method on that turned out very well. One of my quilts had blocks made on my embroidery machine. Since it only makes a 4" motif I enlarged the blocks by setting them on point. It does leave you with lots of bias edges but you can work with them if you starch the fabric first. I am not the world's greatest piecer but I had few problems with it. It has markings for 60 and 90 degree angles. I get the two of them mixed up occasionlly. I think it was worth the money.

To get to Anita Solomon's demos on Simply Quilts:
http://www.makeitsimpler.com/homepage2.html
and click on Watch Anita on Simply Quilts.
You can also find some here
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/pac_ct..._leader/text/0,,DIY_26336_67830,00.html
Has anyone tried Anita's method? I have her first book and some paper, but that is as far as I've gone. She, also, is a member of Stashbusters. There is a thread by her regarding square in a square on the site.
Mary Ellen

Patrice is right all around! My biggest problem is the bias edges. I don't care to use starch or glue or any other chemicals on my quilts, but the bias edges are just a bad idea. It's just as easy to use other techniques that don't cause this situation.

We had a lady come and teach this class when I was working at an LQS. I didn't think it was worth the money.

http://www.hgtv.com/videos/super-fas...ting/4431.html

THIS is WAY COOL! I am going up to my sewing room now to do this. :lol:

i can't use DYI network info. i have mac. incompatible.

Okay - I did 20 blocks like that last night. It was easy to cut. I also used a soapstone pencil to mark the board. It comes off with a damp rag. I would like to sharpen my pencil better to get a finer line. I am also thinking that I could position the pattern so that I would be cutting on the lines on the mat. If I can get that to work, I will post a picture.

The blocks pieced up nicely. I sewed triangles on opposite sides of the square, pressed them outward and then sewed on the other two triangles. It really went very quickly. I am not sure if they are perfectly square (I was sewing pretty quickly and I was getting tired,) but I haven't measured them. I think that if you wanted a specific size of finished square, you would have to do some experimentation to determine the size of your initial squares.

I made some "fussy cut" - style blocks, and that was easy, too! I just centered the motif in the initial square.

cathe, so glad to hear that.

i was able to get THAT tute and i could see the potential.that teacher usually does pp but i can see the potential with this.

i don't know if you can use it for anything else, but who cares. you can stack so many it must go whizzing by. how many could you comfortably stack?

That's totally a matter of personal preference. I can cut 8 comfortably and 12 if I concentrate on it. You can cut more if you use the 60 mm cutter, but I am too cheap to buy that and perfectly content with my 45 mm. Once you have all your 8" (or whatever) squares cut, it's easy to flop down a bunch of them and slice. even if you only wanted to do 2 or 4 at a time, it's still much faster than alternative methods.

Just preparing the fabric and paper seems to take up as much time as just cutting squares in half. You are still cutting squares to recut into triangles. I dont see any time saving.

Did you watch the video, Rose Marie? It honestly is much faster. For one thing, you don't have separate squares to cut for the centers and for the triangles.

In the "regular" technique, you would cut different squares - for a 4" finished block, you would cut one square for the center. First, you have to figure out how big to cut it! I always have trouble remembering how big to cut the on-point squares. Then you need 2 - 4 7/8" squares for the corners (each cut in half diagonally to make 4 triangles.) This way, you just cut one big square and slice the corners off - you get all the five pieces at once. It is particularly effective for scrap quilts.


I drafted and printed the paper pattern in about 2 minutes. If I were doing it with graph paper it would take one minute.

Oh - I measured my blocks. For my practice pieces, I cut 8" squares. The blocks are 7 1/4", so they will be 6 3/4" when they are sewn together.

i agree with cathe.

just to check it out i used the method with leftovers for a trial run.

much much faster and easier. i love the no-math part.