Triangles - Episode 1

Hello, quilters! So happy you’re back with me for another week. As promised, this week we’re shifting gears to the wonder that is triangles.

We’ve chatted before about shaking off the nerves and going for something new. I’m going to start by telling you that when I first started quilting, triangles were one of the things that had me pretty intimidated! I really had to dig deep and be brave to give them a try, even with Nancy the Quilting Goddess cheerleading and holding my hand.

Photo by Jack T on Unsplash

My first projects all included right-angles only, so adding in a 45 degree angle was a big leap. I remembered triangles from trigonometry in high school, and I thought to myself, “shoot! I spent a whole year learning about these guys in school! Anything that takes that long to learn about must be hard!”

At first, everything I read about quilting with triangles only made my nerves worse. Sewing on the bias, getting things to line up, instructions that were impossible to understand - everything from cutting them to piecing them seemed way more complicated than squares and rectangles!

If you’re in the same boat, let me be your cheerleader, and let me hold your hand! Because I’ve come out the other side. And thankfully, it turns out, if you know a few tricks, triangles are not actually that difficult! There are a million different techniques out there, but in this series here on the Quilter’s Mart Blog, I’m going to filter it down for you and share only two of my favorite ways to make triangles.

My hope is that you’ll find them easy to follow (I’ll include pictures!), and much less confusing than that intimidating pattern you’ve been reading, but which you’ve been hesitant to start.

In addition to the two techniques to make triangles, I’m going to show you some different ways to lay them out to make quilts exclusively out of triangles. I think you’ll be amazed at what you can do with triangles alone!

We’ll explore pinwheels, diamonds, chevrons, flying geese, diagonal stripes, and combinations of all of the above!

Whether you’re new to triangles, new to my particular techniques, or just up for some fun together, I invite you to work along with me during this series. To do so, you’ll need to grab two fabrics (see the picture below for my selections!), your rotary cutter and cutting mat, a fabric pencil or marker, some straight pins, your iron, and your rulers. And of course, your trusty machine!

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