Quilt Tips: Triangle Troubleshooting

Hello Quilters! Accurate Piecing of Half-Square Triangle and Flying Geese units will show off your perfect points but chopped off points will leave you frustrated.   Accuracy can be affected by many things, even the thickness of thread and seams can cause triangles to fall just shy of perfect. Here’s a few troubleshooting tips:

If the corner doesn’t match when flipped back, one helpful technique is to sew just next to the marked line. The thickness of the thread and fabric can make a difference.

The feed dogs can shift the square and rectangle, so use a few more pins.

Do you have tips that get eaten by the needle? Start sewing with a scrap, end with another scrap or chain piece all the units.

Even a wide pencil mark takes up space – try a .5 or .7 mm mechanical pencil.

Sometimes we just don’t sew straight. Take a closer look at the beginning and end, did you veer off a little, just a wiggle here or there? Try marking the sewing line.

If you’re not happy with your sewing, or if the size isn’t right, remove the stitches and sew again. It’s better to take out a few inches of thread now than to be disappointed at the puckers and unmatched points later.