nyelphaba

I took a Hunter's Star class using Thangles and I hated it. The seams were off, I was off, the paper shifted. I will not use them again.

Scissor Queen

LOL, those BOMs can be really alluring and almost impossible to resist. I started one that used the Marti M. templates. I discovered I hate those even more than Thangles!!

Now I ask what kind of construction method the BOM uses and pass on any of the ones I don't like or know ahead of time I'll have to rewrite the instructions to suit myself. Plus it helps that there isn't a quilt store less than an hour away I'm willing to go to.

moonwork42029

I drop my stitch to 1.5 for paper piecing and using the paper guides....makes tearing off so much easier. Crease and tear off the big piece first. I do have to use some super pointy tweezers in a few spots but figure the rest of it will wash out.

cheryl rearick

Here are some other choices.
WE have Rhonda here on our board who teaches us her way to do triangle squares (perfection)
here are two other ways.
http://www.sundaybestquiltworks.com/...iangleDemo.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/June-Tailor-Ha.../dp/B001TL2JIA
I find if I use the stencils I still need to use the June Taylor Ruler. How ever, no papers and perfect half square & quarter square triangles every time.
All three really work.

Have fun. :)

ewecansew

I use triangles-on-a-roll, but decrease my stitch length to 1.5. I find 2.5 is too long a stitch for most piecing. 2.0 is better except when paper piecing.

MadQuilter

Never tried thangles but I have drawn the thangles pattern on larger pieces of fabric. It's kind of a pain though.

Now, I just work with HSTs - straight up.

bj

I just bought this program from my LQS, but haven't tried it yet. I'm glad you said you liked it. I bought mine to do flying geese with.

thepolyparrot

I liked Thangles okay - still have a bunch of them plus a kit for making an Orion's Star. It's great that there is one size you can buy for jelly roll strips. I really liked that aspect.

I have also tried various templates and those work fine, too - as long as I have the wiggle room to trim the finished squares to the size I need.

I would rather use Triangulations, though. I print them one or two sizes larger than I actually need, then trim the pressed squares to the size required. There are some similar printable pages in a few sizes on the internet and those work just as well if you can find them in the size you want.

The big advantage of Triangulations is that the bias doesn't act up as much when you're sewing two heavily starched pieces of fabric together and then cutting the pieces apart. Starched together and pinned to the paper and sewn with very small stitches, the bias doesn't even seem to come into play. I guess the next stop would be a sledge hammer or a club - beat the dang stuff into submission. :mrgreen:

Triangulations is just a very large collection of pdf's for printing HST's, QST's and Flying Geese. You print them out, pin them to your fabrics, sew, cut apart and press. The HST's are done in 1/16" increments, so you should be able to always find exactly the size you need for any quilt.

I bought the Wonder Ruler and the Lazy Girl's No Math Flying Geese Ruler, too but I haven't used them yet. They're in my ruler rack with a bunch of other still-in-their-wrappers-rulers. :?

TonnieLoree

Aren't all of these meant to be squared up after they are sewn? That is what I have always done. They are always larger that my finished HST requires. At least you know you have the bare minimum and are not short somewhere.

JUNEC

Connecting Thread has some tutorials

http://www.connectingthreads.com/Tut...Tutorials.html

http://www.connectingthreads.com/pat...ml?showAll=yes

http://www.connectingthreads.com/cfPromo/Freebies.cfm