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Posts Tagged ‘quilting 101’

Dog ears, bunny ears, or triangle trims…

Written by Diane Harris on February 9, 2021. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

My friend LeeAnn is this sort of person: kind, smart, analytical, take-charge, open, wise, funny. So when LeeAnn says something, I listen up.

LeeAnn recently mentioned trimming the “dog ears” from half-square triangles.

“I don’t understand why everyone thinks you have to trim the dog ears. They don’t hurt anything. It’s just extra work to cut them off.”

The pink arrows point to the dog ears on this half-square triangle unit.

This started me thinking about the dog ears: those tiny triangles—the seam allowance overhang, if you will—that appear when you make half-square triangles.

Dog ears are innocent enough when it’s just a few.

Dog ears are innocent enough when there are just a few, but here was my carpet when I did a big project recently:

Dog ears litter my carpet.

I have always cut the dog ears off, but I can’t say exactly why. After LeeAnn’s comment, I thought about it long and hard. Know what I finally remembered?

Alex Anderson hosted Simply Quilts for more than a decade on television.

Alex made me do it.

That’s right. When I had kids at home and did not have another full-time job, I watched every episode of Simply Quilts that I could. And Alex Anderson said to cut off the “bunny ears.”

Who was I to argue?

I consider this the Bible of quiltmaking.

I went to the Bible of quiltmaking, Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! The Complete Guide to Quiltmaking by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes. What did these experts think?

The Complete Guide page with instructions to cut off “extensions.”

There it is, right on page 104 of the Second Edition, in the section called Making Half-Square Triangles that begins on page 103. Number 8 says to “Trim the extensions and check the accuracy of the unit size.”

I’ve never heard them called extensions but hey, Diana and Laura’s book had sold more than 800,000 copies by the late ’90s, and I’ve never even written a book, so there you go.

Teach Me to Sew Triangles by Pat Sloan

By this time I was having fun and my curiosity was burning, so I pulled out Pat Sloan’s Teach Me to Sew Triangles. And with that I opened another can of worms, which is this:

Making half-square triangles larger than necessary and trimming them down.

That’s a topic for another post. But right on page 10, Pat Sloan has a plop-box called Dealing with Dog-Ears:

Pat Sloan’s book gives dog-ear advice.

She says, “Notice how by trimming the triangle-squares to size, you’ve also trimmed off the ‘dog-ears.’ Removing them makes sewing multiple units together so much easier! So even if you don’t need to trim your units to a smaller size, be sure to cut off the dog-ears before assembling your quilt blocks.”

Hmm.

I checked one more source: Becoming a Confident Quilter by Elizabeth Dackson. This is an excellent book, written more recently (2013). And I find not one jot about the dog ears.

Perhaps modern quilt makers have bigger fish to fry? Are they trimming their dog ears or leaving them in place? If they’re not trimming, is the accuracy of their quilts in question?!

Oh my.

I have a big pile of quarter-square triangles waiting for me right now. I’m not even close to being finished—I need hundreds more. So it would save me a lot of time if I could just leave those dog-ears alone.

I’d like to know what you think. Let me know in the comments:

Do you trim off the dog-ears?

Why or why not?

I am seriously thinking about leaving them alone. Because honestly…

I think LeeAnn has a point.

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Learn My Machine Binding Method!

Written by Diane Harris on December 8, 2020. Posted in Blog, Classes, How-tos and Ideas

I’ve been binding my quilts on the machine for more than 20 years with a technique that’s fast, beautiful and sturdy.

Are you free on Saturday?

Join me for Mock-Hand Binding by Machine, a live class with me, Diane Harris from Stash Bandit, from 9 am to 12 pm Saturday, Dec. 12.

The fee is $35.

(Yes, this will be offered again and next time it won’t be so early for people on Pacific time.)

Go straight to registration

or read on for details.

This all-machine technique imitates a binding sewn down by hand, but in a fraction of the time. I’ve been binding my quilts with this method since the 90s so I know the tricks to make it work along with the pitfalls to avoid.

PLEASE NOTE: It’s best if your sewing machine has a blind hemstitch, but you can make a regular zigzag work if need be. I’ll also show you other binding secrets to make your quilt look its best!

Blind hem stitch is used for this technique. Lots of machines have it!

I have 36 years of quiltmaking experience along with many years of teaching. From beginners to pros, everyone in the US* is welcome in this class, which will be a live demonstration of the technique along with written instructions and photographs in the handouts. You’ll leave with everything you need to start binding your quilts quickly and beautifully. Let’s do it!

*The platform I’m using on Zoom is still in Beta (testing) mode and is limited to US users right now. Word is that it will open to international registrants at some point before long.

Mock-Hand Binding by Machine

9 am to 12 pm CST

Saturday, Dec 12, 2020

$35

Click here to register.

You’ll get a link to the supply list when you register. I look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Quilt on,

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How Much Difference Can a Tiny Triangle Make?

Written by Diane Harris on June 25, 2020. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Trunk Shows

I finished a hawg this week. That’s my new term for a quilt you love and hate as you make it.

It wasn’t the quilt’s fault. I think it was a difficult project because of the bias edges on hundreds of small pieces and on a bunch of big pieces, too.

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Buy You Books and…

Written by Diane Harris on April 8, 2020. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle

I’m doing a lot more machine quilting these days and boy, am I learning a lot.

I’m using the HQ Capri stationary longarm with its Insight table, which provides stitch regulation and support for the quilt.

In my search for ideas of what to quilt on Wild Garden, an improv throw-size UFO, I pulled out my books on machine quilting.

And that’s when it hit me.

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My Best Machine Quilting Trick

Written by Diane Harris on May 26, 2019. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas

This is my best machine quilting trick. It’s easy to do and it looks great. I’ve done it most often on smallish quilts but I’ve used it on a throw-size quilt, too.

I tried it for the first time on this little red quilt, which is a free pattern just for my readers. Such a simple idea! You won’t have any trouble executing this as long as you have a walking foot for your machine.

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Scrap Quilts 101: The Value of Value

Written by Diane Harris on May 16, 2019. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Trunk Shows

I built a picket fence yesterday! Here’s the scrappy story.

 

I’m making a sampler quilt for my new Triple Crown program for guilds. It’s a pattern from the Jen Kingwell folks called Girl Next Door. This house is at the center of the design.

The house is surrounded by a picket fence. I’ve seen lots of Girl Next Door quilts online as people have made them. The picket fence has been problematic in many of them. There isn’t often enough contrast to make it stand out.

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7623 Miles to a New Quilting Friend

Written by Diane Harris on March 26, 2019. Posted in Blog, Quilt Lifestyle

I made a new quilting friend recently! I traveled 7623 miles to find her.

My new quilt friend and me.

You may know that my daughter and her family live in Hong Kong, where they teach at Hong Kong International School. Because people always ask me why: they’re doing it for adventure. And what’s great is that it has turned into an adventure for me as well.

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How to Do a Partial Seam

Written by Diane Harris on February 6, 2019. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Trunk Shows

Learning to make a partial seam is easy!

Partial seams strike fear in the hearts of quilters but it needn’t be. Let me help you understand the idea with a Valentine quilt I finished this week.

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Add Movement with Diagonal Lines

Written by Diane Harris on January 4, 2019. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Trunk Shows

My lifetime adventures with Baby Windmills have led to quite a few quilt designs. Some of them have been sewn and some are still only on paper.

Christmas Dance by Diane Harris. Photo: Kristen Laing Photography.

The first designs were just sewing blocks together using a particular color recipe. Nice little scrap quilts like Christmas Dance, above, but pretty simplistic.

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Want to Make a Quilt with 50,000 Friends?

Written by Diane Harris on December 18, 2018. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle

If you’re a quilter and you’re online, you’re likely aware of the recent kickoff of the annual Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.

I always enjoy the Quiltville Mystery, even when I don’t participate.

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