Today’s QM Short comes courtesy of Donna Amos, a member of the 2011 QM Scrap Squad. It’s a great tip and a real time saver! Donna lives in Decatur, Arkansas and blogged about her Scrap Squad experience.
Recently I had a large stack of rectangles (over 100) that called for using stitch-and-flip. I dislike marking all those squares and thought there had to be a faster way than drawing a line on each one. Here is what I came up with. (This will work with half-square triangles also.)
Here’s the rectangle with a square to be added. Cut a narrow strip of paper, lightweight cardboard (cereal box weight or file folder) or lightweight sandpaper like you see on the right above. I used cardboard.
Place the square on top of the rectangle, right sides together.
Lay the cardboard strip across the square, corner to corner. Cardboard should be a little longer than the distance from corner to corner.
Sew along the straight edge of the cardboard, holding the cardboard in place while sewing. Chain as many as you wish.
You’ll get a perfect diagonal seam.
Trim the seam allowance to ¼”.
Set the seam by pressing over the stitching and then flip the smaller patch open and press.
A perfect diagonal line without marking each square!
Many thanks to Donna Amos for sharing her photos and text with Quilty Pleasures. We really appreciate the great job she did.
About Diane Harris
I'm Interactive Editor for Quiltmaker magazine in Golden, Colorado, USA. For six years, I've been writing pattern instructions and product reviews, and doing a host of other tasks necessary to help produce a national pattern magazine. Now I work remotely from rural Nebraska to generate some of our online content. I manage the QM Scrap Squad, our blog tours and our Quilt-Alongs. I have one of the best jobs in the world.
Thanks for the tip! I’m going to try this.
Now that’s sweet! Thanks
Brilliant! Thank you so much for sharing. Your timing is perfect.
That’s clever! I do something similar, but I put tape on my machine bed and use that to line up points. It works with HSTs and these types of piecings.
Neat tip! I’ve got a piece of template plastic already cut that will work just fine.
My kinda girl!
What a great tip! Definitely going to try this. Thank you!
So smart. Thank you.
No!!! Oh. My. Gosh. How perfectly simple!!! And something I would never have thought of myself in a million years. ::sigh:: Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the tip. I wish I had it for a sample that I just completed that was almost all triangles. Will definately use it next time. Thanks again.
Great tip, thanks for sharing!
How “cool”! What a clever idea!
Just in time for my 20 snowballs! Thank you for sharing.
That is absolutely BRILLIANT !!!! I wish I knew this when I was working on my Bonnie Hunter Orca Bay Scrappy mystery. Had to make tons and tons of HSTs and QSTs.
Thank you so much !!!!!!!
Wish I had thought of that…..
I’ve been using a 3×5 card for this for a long time (if you accidentally run your needle into the card, just flip it over or toss it, whereas template plastic might ruin your needle). I use the same technique when quilting diagonal lines, so I don’t have to mark my quilt top. Just start your needle in at the one corner, lie the card down so the right edge of it touches the left side of the needle and pivot the card so it hits the opposing corner and stitch away. If the segment is longer, just tape two cards together, end to end. You can keep going by repositioning the card. Fast and easy.
Thank you Thank you Thank you!
You are one smart lady! Thanks sew much for the tip! Will be trying it out for sure!
Don’t you just love it when someone can’t stand to fuss with a method and comes up with a neat way to do it easier. This is going in my tips and technique file.
I’ve been quilting for how many years now and never THOUGHT of this !!! Shame on you, Patricia, and THANK YOU for showing me how !!!
I never thought of this on my own !! Thanx so much for sharing your idea !!
Super idea. I’m eager to try it out.
Thank you soooooo much for this tip. I love timesavers!
So simple! It’s amazing no one thought of it before now. Very smart. Thanks for sharing.
I fold my squares diagonally, wrong sides together and iron them rather than marking them with a pencil. I then sew in the crease. The card might be a little quicker!
That’s way to easy. Thanks you just saved a tree, lol. (No more pencil needed)
Great idea ! can’t wait to try it. I think it would work well for flying geese .
Thanks for the tip! I really get tired of marking all the squares. Quilter’s are the most wonderful people to share their tips and ideas!
Obrigada pela dica
Thanks for the tip i am going to give it a try the next HST i have to make ,could have used it yesterday when i made a 21in sq it had lots of hst in it .
Thanks to Donna and Cheri as well.
Ohhhhhhhh you are sooooo smart. Must be experience. I love to get tips like this. I have several of my own if you would like for me to share.
Thanks for the tip. This will save a lot of time on my current project!
I use this same method, but instead of paper or plastic, I use a straight cut of extra fabric (preferably flannel). The extra cut of fabric laid across what you’re sewing ‘sticks’ to your layer & allows you to sew a straight line. Just like with the paper, be careful to sew on edge & not into it.
My boss at our quilt shop in Wray, CO constantly reminds me to simplify. I can’t help myself. But this kind of simple I can appreciate. Thanks.
What a great idea. Thank you
Wonderful idea. I will try it. You just have to love other quilters for sharing great ideas.
Never would have thought of this but when I first started to read I thought you were going to say “Use the Half square sewing guide that you afix to your machine” I think this would work as well. Such simple things that have to be pointed out to use because the forest is to big, or is it to many trees? (too caught up in the big picture)
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OMG!!! I love it! I recently put a pattern back because it called for 120 squares to be marked and I just could not bring myself to do it. I will have to go back and pick it back up now.
Thank you!!!!
This is fabulous!! Thank you!
What a cleaver idea. I will use it. Love our quilting buddies who don’t mind sharing a useful tip.
This is genius! I HATE drawing that diagonal line.
I always appreciate tips to make things easier,and faster.
In making my American Hero Quilt, there are 448 places where I can use this application. THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for sharing your tip. I also sew a second pass when the scrap corner is large enough for another HST (half square triangle). A little extra sewing and pressing along the way and another quilt is in process at the same time. So many of the above comments could be repeated here as well; thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Just wondering…. don’t you need to be a quarter inch away from the template? Looks like to me you would be sewing on your cutting line?? Thanks!
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THANK YOU this is possibly the most useful advice ever for me. i hate marking lines and i procrastinate which delays the project!
Wow! Wow! Wow! Brilliant idea!
Recently I was tempted to buy a quick quarter ruler for making half square triangles. I didn’t buy it and so glad I didn’t. I knew there had to be a better way than to do all of that excessive marking which is way too time consuming. Thank you so much for this wonderful time-saving idea. It’s just what I was looking for.
I have been doing this for years, but by using a post-it note. I have even used a insert card from a magazine. Easy peasy.
What a great idea. I definitely have to try this.
If you spray the card with a little basting spray, then you won’t even have to hold on to it.
I really dislike marking lines to sew, as it takes to long and Iam very impatient when sewing dont move right along, so I will try this out…looks like a Great Idea!
Good idea and I bought the Rowenta iron in the pic as well.
thanks that a really good tip will be uswing it from now on
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I like this idea. I would use it if I was planning to discard the cut off piece.
But I usually use a half inch ruler to mark that diagonal line across the squares. I position one side along the center And I draw down both sides of it. It takes a bit longer to chain piece one side, then flip around and go back along the other outer line, but when you cut them apart, the little cut off pieces are already assembled HST ready for another project.
Thanks for the great tip, I have quite a few 1/2 sq. triangles to work on this week, so I will for sure give it a try!
Thanks! I’m going to try this!
Thanks for this tip, I’m definitely going to try this. I hate the schlep of marking all my squares. Thanks again from Sunny South Africa.
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