Hi, I’m Jenny from the MSQC. Take a look at this great quilt behind me. Isn’t this
a lot of fun? These colors are so bright and pretty and it looks like you did so much work.
But we’ve got an easy way for you to do this. So to make this quilt, I used a layer
cake of these cotton solids from Riley Blake. Such great colors. I mean it’s just really
fun colors. And I also used a layer cake of white, 10 inch squares. And you can use yardage
as well. If you use yardage, it’s about 2 ¾ or 2 ½ yards, somewhere around there.
But, but I’m using a layer cake and I’ll show you how to do that. You’re going to
need this wedge ruler. This is the key to making this so simple. And I’m going to
show you how to make that block.
So when you’re ready to make the block, what we’re going to do, it’s made with
half-square triangles. So the half-square triangles are made the way I make them. And
what we’re going to do is we’re going to put two squares together and we’re going
to sew a quarter of an inch all the way around the outside edge like this. And then we’re
going to cut it diagonally from corner to corner. So since I already have this sewn
together, we’ll just go ahead and cut it diagonally, corner to corner. You just line
up your ruler like that. And we’re going to make that cut and then we’re going to
go this way and make the next cut. This is such a great way to make half-square triangles
because it’s so much faster. Alright, so now we’re going to take these over to the
ironing board. And let me make sure. I have so many lines on my mat that sometimes when
I cut if I run over a line, it leaves a thread. I guess I need a new mat don’t I? Who could
I talk to about that? I mean really!
Alright, so let’s iron these open. So I’m over here and I’m just going to, I leave
all my colors in the same position so the red on top, or the dark on top and then I’m
just going to roll these back. And this is a fun combination here, red and green. Set
my seams and roll them back. Now one of the keys to putting this block together is leaving
these going the same direction. So we’re going to make a little stack of them and they’re
all going to be facing the same way. And we’re just going to set those aside for a minute.
The next part of this block is the wedge. And I have four, four squares stacked up here
and I’m going to cut my wedges at once. You do whatever you’re comfortable with.
You want to make sure they are lined up exactly. When you use the large simple wedge ruler,
you’re going to put the edge of the ruler on the edge of your layer cake. So I say you
put your, your edge, your wedge on the edge. So I’m going to do it this way so I can
cut with my left hand. And I cut off the end down there and then I just come across here
and cut straight across. You can do it however you want. So then I have these wedges right
here. Get that little line again. If you ever find that you’re having trouble cutting,
see how this line is right here? Because it’s sunken down in further, then that makes a
thread catch. So sometimes it’s not your blade at all, it’s just, it’s just how
the, how your, how your mat is, the shape your mat’s in. So then I’m going to line
my wedge up on the other side of the square here. And I’m just going to go ahead and
cut this straight across like that. So you have this little bit of waste, but that’s
it. And I’ve got these great wedges here. So the next thing we have to do is iron the
wedges in half.
So we’re going to take these wedges like this. And I just fold them right in half.
And by in half, I mean the long way like this. So I’m folding it the long way. Just like
you, if you, you were making a paper airplane. I made a few of those in my day. My boys used
to make like garages for their paper airplanes. They had all kinds of different paper airplanes.
And this is how you begin a paper airplane. So I’m just ironing these down. The, the,
we’re ironing these in half and that’s going to be our sew-line. So now I’ve got
my pieces all ironed and we’ve got to line up our blocks. So you want to keep your blocks
going in the same direction. And your wedge is going to be sewn across the seam. And that’s
why it’s important to keep that in the same. So I have a few done here. Right here like
this and see, see this is the look we’re going to. So let’s sew a few of these on
so you can, you can see exactly what we’re doing.
We’re going to take our wedge, and we are going to lay it, the point, right up in the
corner. It doesn’t really have to go over. And we’re putting, we’re lining up the
edge right here. So let me make sure you can see this really good. So we’re lining up
the edge of the wedge on the edge of the block, it’s crossing over the two, and we’re
going to sew right here on this fold line. So let’s go to the sewing machine and do
that.
Ok, so I like to start at the top. I like the point of my wedge to be right in the corner.
And I’m going to lift up my needle and I’m just going to slide this under there just
a hair. And I’m going to start sewing down. Now I’m sewing on the fold line. So that’s
important, that’s important to remember--on the fold line that we, that we pressed into
our wedge, we’re sewing along there. And I’m going to make sure this lines up on
the edge and on the fold line. Alright.
Now we’re going to bring that over here, and I’m going to trim these threads off
right here. And then I’m going to fold this back and I’m going to go ahead and press
it back. It should be pretty pressed because we, we, we pressed it to begin with. And so
then what I’m going to do is, I’m going to trim this extra piece off right here. I’ll
move those out of the way. That would be a terrible mistake to make to cut into those.
So I’m just going to cut straight across and cut this piece off right here. Then I
want to cut away this extra fabric back here. So I’m going to open up my wedge and I’m
going to lay my ruler on the stitch line so that it sticks out about a quarter of an inch
and just trim that off. So that’s all you do to make this block.
So I have a little stack of them here, but I think we should cover this one more time.
So let’s take one of these red and green ones. And I’m just going to sew this one
more time so that we’re sure you’ve got this. So again, we have our wedge. We’ve
ironed it in half. We are putting it at the top of the red. And you just have to decide
what color you want it on. The point at the top lining it up along the edge. We’re sewing
on our press line. So let’s sew it one more time. Because this is the key to this quilt,
I just felt like we just need to make sure you’ve got it. Alright. And you’re going
to have some extra at the bottom, so we just sew right off that edge. I’m going to iron
this down again, make sure it’s laying right over there, nice. Then we’ll use our square
as a pattern, cut that bottom part off, right here. Then we’re going to open up our wedge
and just put this on the stitch line, just line it up a quarter of an inch from that
stitch line. Oop I’m doing it the wrong way and almost cut into my block. Make sure
you don’t cut your block in half, that would have been terrible. Whew! I’m glad I saw
that! I bet out there, you’re all going--NO! No! don’t do it! Alright we’re on the
right place now, we’re cutting that off. We lay it over, whew! Crisis averted! Alright
so you’re going to do four of those.
So now let me show you how these go together because this is really cool. So your fat part,
right down here, is what meets together. And you’re putting it together just like you’d
put a pinwheel together. So see how we’re doing this. The fat part turns in like this.
So then you’re just going to sew your two halves like this. You’re going to sew your
two halves and your two halves and then you put your block together. So let’s go ahead
and sew these two halves, make sure your block is lined up. Nice little straight edge. There
we are. And then the next one, this one right here. We’ll grab it and put it together.
And I just like to make sure they’re lined up on the outside as well. Then we’re going
to open this up and we are going to sew this together. So let’s iron this real quick.
We’ll just press it open. And then we’ll press this one open right here. And then we’re
going to lay these together like this and put these together and make us a block. You
want to make sure your middle seam is lined up. As long as your seam allowances on the
outside of your block are even, you shouldn’t have any trouble with your size either. So
let’s press this open. And there’s our block.
So when you’re ready to put your blocks together, I laid them out on the floor. I
have a, I have a design floor. I don’t have a design wall, I have a design floor. Anyway,
you put them out wherever you can see them. And you just lay them out so your colors are
well balanced. And then I put an inch and a half sashing in between each block and then
in between the rows as well. It just gives it a little bit of, you know, pizzazz, and
pops those blocks. You can leave out the sashing if you want. You know, really whatever you’d
like. This border here is one yard. It’s eight strips, four inches wide. And it just
makes a really cool, quick quilt. So we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the Wedge Star
from the MSQC.