quiltingshorttimer

I purchased the 12" Accuquilt Cube and would like to add a Drunkards path die to round out my dies--but don't want to invest $120 in the Cube Companion which has the Drunkard's path and 2 other dies that I'm not that interested in. When I look at the Drunkard's Path by itself on their website, the sizes are either the 3 or 4" or 7" . What I'm wanting is a 6" block that I could put 4 together for a 12" block.

The die with the Cube Companion is a 6" die. If I purchase the 7" Drunkard's path, can I just cut it down to use as a 6" block? I'm thinking I can as my plastic Drunkard's path template is 7" and we just cut them down after it's pieced--but don't want to spend the $$ on Accuquilt and be disappointed.

need some other brains to think this through!

Prism99

Well, my brain didn't thank me for thinking about this! You can certainly cut down the 7" size. The effect of this is to change the proportions of the block slightly, since you end up with slightly smaller circles in relation to the rest of the block. Considering the cost of the companion set for the 12" Qube, though, I'd be just fine with smaller circles! I personally think both the Qube and the companion sets are very over-priced.

Prism99

Oops! I take it back. After giving my brain more time to look at the block, you can keep the proportions the same by cutting down equally on all sides. Easy peasy.

PaperPrincess

You can cut them down. I would experiment a bit to find a proportion you like, then mark your 6.5" square ruler so that all the blocks will have that same proportion.
I love cutting curved pieces with my accuquilt. they sew together so easily!

Jennifer23

I picture the Drunkard's path block as having two "square" sides (not interrupted by seams), and two "circle" sides (where the edges of the quarter circle meet the sides). If you want your circles to stay perfectly round, you will have to cut them down only on the square sides - if you cut off part of the circles to reduce the block size, you won't have full quarter-circle arcs anymore, and so you will get little points where the blocks meet. I don't know if a 1" reduction will cause a visible problem, but it might. I would want to play with it a bit before I invested in the dies.

This would be a lot clearer with pictures, but I don't have time to draw any until after work. Maybe picture this (or even actually do it!): Cut out a 6" square of paper, and make a mark in the middle of two adjacent sides. Take a saucer and a big dinner plate. Connect the marks by tracing the edge of the saucer - you will get a reasonable Drunkard's path black. Now connect the points using the dinner plate. The line will be less curved, and won't meet the edges of the paper square on. The dinner plate will cause the little points where the blocks meet, like cutting down a larger block would.

Geri B

Make one and trim it down and see what it looks like. I am a 1st generation GO user ( prior to "Qubes & companions") and have accumulated many dies. I truly wish the company would sell some of the Qube dies individually, but they won't, I inquired!

Onebyone

EVERY Go DP die I have bought has had skipped places in the cuts. I got tired of sending them back for a replacement. I don't know why this one shape die is such a dud, the others are great.