“Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the background squares. With right sides together, place a background square on a print square. Sew ¼” seam on each side of the line. Cut apart on the line.”
How many times have I written that instruction? And how many times have you read that in a pattern, then groaned when you realized that there are at least 240 half-square triangles, flying geese or hour glass blocks?
Scotch Magic Tape is the iconic invisible, matte-finish tape produced by 3M.
There’s really a simpler way, but you can’t always put all the detailed tips in a pattern. After all, it is a pattern, not a small novel. So, I thought I’d share some of my favorite tricks, using Scotch Magic tape. Yep, that stuff you use to wrap all your Christmas gifts. They call it Magic because it disappears on the wrapping paper, I call it Magic because it’s so inexpensive and ever-so-useful! I’m really not much of a gadget girl, but Magic tape is really indispensable (pun intended, sorry!)
Hopefully, these tips are just a bit timely as Aroma Primavera, a Palette of the Season project (with lots of triangles!) is beginning to show up in quilt shops around the country, and Cassie’s Blooms is coming soon.
So how to avoid drawing all those diagonal lines? Use a length of Magic tape (almost any width will work) that is longer that the diagonal length of the square. In other words, slightly longer than the line you are asked to draw in the pattern. I like to lightly stick the tape to my (clean! i.e., free of threads) cutting mat, and using a fine line Sharpie, draw a vertical line on the tape. Then measure exactly ¼” away from the first line, and draw a second line.
Use the tip of a pin to gently pry the tape from the mat if it’s sticking too well, and place the tape on your sewing machine, centering the vertical line of the tape with the needle. The second line should be to the right of the needle.
Place a print square on a background square, aligning with diagonal of the square with your needle and your line. Voila! Speed piece away.
Need to sew ¼” on both sides of the line? No problem, simply align your diagonal with the next line over. As far as cutting the squares apart on the line, you can probably figure out that you simply need to align your ruler with the diagonal to cut. Since I usually stack several squares to cut, I never end up cutting exactly on the line anyway 🙂
If you need to change the bobbin, and it’s a top loader like my machine, you can peel back the tape and re-align it. The best part? If the tape gets “munged up” (technical term), just create a new Magic tape strip. It will probably cost you all of three cents. With pennies out of the picture, does that mean it’s free?
On to my next use of the tape, and this is a quickie, I promise. In the Aroma Primavera pattern, you need to square up a unit to 8 ½” square, centering the center square. That can be a bit tricky, even if you have an 8 ½” square ruler. My ruler didn’t have the center lines where I needed them to be. Once again, Magic tape to the rescue! I put tape on the back of the ruler, making a cross through the center. When I placed the ruler on top of my fabric square, I could use the lines to center the middle square of the block, and trim around the ruler. When I was done trimming all the blocks, I easily removed the tape, and like Magic, my ruler was ready for the next project.
I hope these simple suggestions make your sewing life easier. Let me know if you have some tips of your own to share!
Until next time, Karen