squaring blocks
 

have completed my shoo fly blocks with fussy cut center. just spent a tedious couple of hours squaring them up. Yes I needed a bigger ruler. My question, is there any reason I can't cut a clear plastic template, mark the middle, and if it's heavy enough plastic use the rotary cutter, or mark and use the appropriate ruler and square up? staples seem to have all weights of clear plastic.

geraldine

Or go to Lowes and have them cut you a piece of plexiglass the size you want and mark the center with a sharpie.

There have been many post on here where people have went to their hardware stores and had plastic cut to do this same thing. Its normally plexiglass that is used. It is so cheap too.

I agree with all those that have said that the cost for professionally marketed rulers/shapes is in creating a precision edge. However, it is well known that using different brands of rulers on the same quilt can cause BIG problems because they may be off by as much as 1/8".

That said, in the "olden days", quiltmakers used to use cereal box templates, paper templates, or whatever they could get their hands on. It has been my experience that using thinner templates (without a ruler) usually results in the templates getting ruined pretty quickly. In addition, I found that trying to rotary cut with template plastic or something similar to that (even the thickest kind) tends to dull my rotary blade. What I do when I need a long line is I fold my fabric (remember that rotary blades can cut through multiple layers) and use my 18" ruler. For squaring blocks, I also make either a piece of tag board (for heavily appliqued blocks) or will iron together 2-3 layers of freezer paper & cut a template out of that, then iron that to my block. Because the freezer paper won't move, I can take my time moving the ruler bit by bit to get my block square. You can use dulled rotary blades to cut out the freezer paper to make that process faster.

wow thanks everyone, just joined this a.m., so helpful

I like Tartan also have a 15" square up block. I never make any blocks bigger than that. I prefer having all the lines to make sure everything is align correctly.

I always use my 15" square except my latest project has larger blocks than 15". After struggling with my smaller rulers, I broke down and bought a bigger square. Glad I did but I can see the using it as often as the 15".

Has anyone used Bloc Loc rulers to square up HST and HRT?

Welcome to the board, Briskgo.....you will make many friends here!

YES, and they are great.

Yes and they are great.

I like BlocLoc! The ones I have are too small though; I need to get their big one so I can trim down 12" blocks. I like BIG blocks sometimes. :)

I think getting a larger square up ruler is the way to go, accurate and easier squaring.

I find that squaring up generally involves lining up some seams and a clear ruler would not give me that option. JoAnn has a nice square ruler set (4.5, 6.5, 9.5, and 12.5 inches) that was affordable with a 50% coupon for me. I use them all the time. I also have a 15" square ruler I use for the sandwich.

I have found the value of "Glo tape" used on my larger rulers helps when squaring things up. I just use a larger ruler, and put the tape on the right size lines, and trim two edges at once, flip the ruler and do it again. Cheap and repositionable for a few times.

I have the Fiskars 12 1/2" ruler with the 30, 45, & 60 degree lines in it. It is worth the price. By the time you figure the gas and time in traffic to have someone cut you a template then measure and mark off the inches an don't forget about the 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch marks. It is worth the price. You can get a coupon for JoAnn's or Hancocks for a discount. I use mine all the time. Oh and even your industrial permanent markers lines will come off and wear off. Just spend the money and get the 12 1/2" ruler. It's 12" with the 1/2" mark on the edge. There is no reason why you can't have a template cut but are you going to measure every line and be sure it is correct? I use my ruler everyday. DH has even used it. When he said he could use something like it for some of his wood working I bought him one. He was very happy. He saw it at Walmart looked at the price and said it was worth it. That is something for him to say!

I use my June Taylor Shapecut. One tool for all sizes.

YES! It will work with many sizes of blocks. You just need to learn to slide it into position, cut 2 sides and then slide into the next position to cut the other 2 sides. I would hate to have to go back to the "old" way now that I am used to using it.

Bought these when making a HST quilt at Thimbleberries Club. What a timesaver! I have 3 or 4 different sizes, but would recommend the 6" one for the best bang for the buck.