Learn to Cut Angles the Easy Way with Sheila Christensen
Posted by Karla Menaugh on Aug 13th 2019
Would you love to make a hexagon quilt, but don’t like the idea of having to painstakingly cut around all six sides of each hexie?
In her new book, Quilts with an Angle, Sheila Christensen shows you how to use a simple 60° triangle ruler to cut triangles, diamonds, parallelograms, trapezoids, jewels, and even hexagons, all from simple strips.
For a 4'' finished hexagon (that’s 4'' from side to side, not point to point), start with a 4 1/2'' strip. Fold the strip in half lengthwise.
If you’re using a point-tip ruler, place the 4 1/2'' line on the fold and cut both sides. (If you’re using a blunt-tip ruler, place the 4 1/4'' line on the fold.)
Unfold and—voila! a perfect hexagon! And with only two angled cuts!
And if you want to fussy-cut diamonds or hexagons, Sheila shows you how to do that from strips too.
Sheila shows you how to make quilts using each shape, both in a straight setting and in an kaleidoscope setting that looks complicated but is actually sewn together in straight rows.
In Watling Street (above) and Bliss (below), black triangles are sewn to opposite sides of red hexagons to create pieced diamond blocks. Either setting is easy to sew in straight rows, with no set-in seams.
