Bevsie

Hi,

I have made a table runner of this pattern, in fact, I have acrylic templates for a small and a larger cut.
My friend made a full size quilt of sq. dance, and she cut each one using one of our templates and a small rotary cutter, it wasn't fun. She made it at camp and I remember she spent most of one day cutting the squares.

It is just beautiful!!! Even my little table runner is cool looking.

I wouldn't do them with a scissors......I'd use a rotary cutter and just cut them out and be done.

Good luck! Post a picture when you are done.

Bev

sewlady31

Hi Bevsie,
Thanks for your comments, I do appreciate your input, I will just
have to plug away at it.
It is fun to know that a fellow Minnesota quilter is on this board.
I am north of MInneapolis, and have relatives around Grand Rapids.

Bevsie

Hi Sewlady,

Glad to meet another Minnesota quilter! I am about 45 min. from Gr. Rapids.....close to Hibbing. I have a son in the Princeton/Zimmerman area.....frequent the quilt shops around there quite often.
Happy cutting with your sq. dance squares.....it will be beautiful when finished.
Keep us posted on your progress.

Bev

Dodie

Hi I made one of these once and for me it went together very easy but I did trace around the template and cut with scissors and did not have any trouble putting it together good luck

sewlady31

Dodie:
Thanks for the input. Appreciate it. Gwen

sewlady31

Bevsie:
Thanks I will keep you posted. I belong to a $5 block group at
the store in Princeton.


Gwen

butterflywing

izy,
is there a free pattern for this somewhere in webland?
butterflywing

butterflywing

i know i have seen this pattern before called by a different name. it's right at the edge of my memory, but i know it was not done the same way. it was cut and sewn exactly as you would think, as pinwheel things that tesselate.
anybody know it by another name?

Izy

Not that I could find Butterflywing...I did a thorough search, we need to find out the size of the template, I think it would be easy to figure out, all we need is the size of the uncut initial block which I think is 6.5", then the size of the template, I was just going to improvise and work it out myself one day soon :D

If anyone knows the size of the template and is willing to share the info, I would very much appreciate it :D :D :D

sewlady31

Izy:
This might help in designing a quilt to be similar to the one in the
picture.
Your template is designed by first drawing crossed lines at the angle
of your choice say 57 degrees. THe x will be away from the corners.
Where the two lines cross mark the middle of the x to make it in the
middle of the size that would be half of the FINISHED measurements
of the starting square. Say a 6" square would FINISH at 5 1/2 inches.
You would then center the 5 1/2 on the line where the two lines
intersect. Mark these with a dot and label a and b. Next make the
box by drawing a new square with the ruler up and down using the
ruler to draw the 90 degree line straight up and down and turn and
make the other two sides to the width of the other two dots on the
other sides. ( Roughly it would come out to sized up to be a 4 9/16
inches. The template is cut tracing the angles that were drawn on to
the template. You need the angle lines on the template to line up on
the seam lines of the first top that you sewed. Note: Write the words
this side up on the top of the template so that you don't turn it when
you start to cut out the top for the second time using the template.
Don't let the size scare you as you will recut the sewn grid of your
initial squares with the template intersecting lines laying on the seam
lines of the grid. Whatever size you cut say 6" square sewn together
in as many squares as you want, you would need to put on a border
that measures 1/2 the width of the cut square plus 1/2 inch so it would
end up to be 3 1/2 in border the length and width of the finished
grid sewn with the initial straight set squares. This would frame the
center with a color to set off the design to make it appear to be floating.
then you would extend the cutting right out to the edge and the same
color would go on all the around the new top. Then you could add any

borders to you desire.
Note: The second cut of the grid will be smaller than the 5 1/2 FINISHED
size when you cut it out with the template. The new cut size is the
4 9/16 so it will finish at about 4 1/8 when the stitching the second time
around is complete. The reason it is that way is because the square is
now at the angle, so these seams will be on the bias, so it might be
helpful to starch the fabric before sewing the first top together. Or just handle them carefully as to not distort the fabric. So you loose a bit by twisting the inside of the
square. You might want to try it out on a small sample and see how
it works, when you lay the template matching the former seam lines
with the lines of the template you would cut it out and will notice that
a small square is scrap for another project. ( Like when you use a
square to sew a partial seam, only when you cut out the new template
size that little square is leftover). So the grid is cut out at an angle
with the edges at a tilt compared to the initial top that was put together.
You can either trace around the template and cut with scissors or use
a small rotary cutter, you just don't want to extend into the next square
to cut. Then you keep them in the order as you cut them so the pieces
of the ofset piece forms the offset pinwheel design.
Just a recap note these lines you draw for the template must come
out to measure the FINISHED size after sewing the first squares together,
or it won't fit the first grid. Just a bit midboggling. This pattern came
out published in a book but she said that you could design your own
and even change that 57 degree angle, to get an entirely different look.
Hope this helps.
So it will depend on what size you want the inital squares to be before
the customized template can be formed. I hope that this might be
able to help with the confusion, that I have caused. If I can answer
any other questions, let me know.