Half Square Triangles

When I started quilting I stated that I didn't like making quilts with triangles and squares. I spent two days of instruction with Marti Michell in Sydney and came away with a love of her templates.

Great for accurate piecing and accurate cutting.  Never did figure out how to cut your strips 7/8" bigger than your squares cut your triangle and sew that bias seam neatly and without stretching it etc.  Plus the triming of the dog ears!

So Marti's templates have you cut your strips the same width as your finished squares,  the corners are trimmed on her templates, so no ear trimming and if you put your two fabrics right sides together they are in pairs to take straight to the machine.  Hence the reason Featheration stitched so quickly (well the large stars).

But students don't always have the same gadgets I do so, to cut half square triangles from a jelly roll or a strip the same width as you cut for squares, you can use a normal square.  Etch a line from the 3/8" mark on the left hand side of a corner to the 3/8" mark on the right hand side of a corner.  The first picture shows this with some Omnigrid Glow Line tape.

You then line up the edge of the tape with the edge of your fabric strip.  The 45 degree line of your ruler goes on the vertical line of the fabric. ( Maybe I should have cut this on the example to show you.)

I have also shown the Easy Angle Ruler, all three rulers are doing the same thing.

If you trim the ends of your bindings before joining them this way, it takes all the guess work out of which way do I hold this to join them , or the joins not being straight.