Actually, this post is on time. It’s still May, and this month’s Island Batik challenge is “Playful Pillows”. I stuck with the Hourglass, or Quarter-Square Triangle (QST) units I used in my quilt “Plenty of Time.”
I decided it would be a good opportunity to do a quick tutorial on one of my essential rotary cutting tools. The Tucker Trimmer® makes constructing accurate quarter-square triangles a breeze. For the record, I am not affiliated with Studio 180 Designs, just an enthusiastic devotee of the Trimmer and several other tools Deb Tucker has designed.
To make the Time Shift pattern, I started with four 4.5″ squares each of blue, green and cream Island Batik fabrics.
Note: The Tucker Trimmer formula is simple: Take the finished size of your QST, and add 1.5″ to determine the size of your beginning squares.
Cut each square diagonally twice, to make four triangles from each square.
Rearrange the triangles and sew into three combinations as shown. Make four of each combination.
I press my seams open. Press to the darker fabric if you prefer.
These squares are just a bit larger than we need, so we will use the Tucker Trimmer to trim them down to size. (I’m cutting right-handed. The tool comes with instructions for left-handed cutting as well.)
Lay the Tucker Trimmer on your square, with the solid diagonal line along the SW-NE seam line. I’m cutting 3.5″ QSTs, so you’ll notice I have the dashed diagonal line labeled “3-1/2″ lined up with the NW-SE seam line.
The left and lower edges of my square extend just a little beyond the 3-1/2” dashed vertical and horizontal lines on the Trimmer.
Trim the right and top edges.
Now rotate the QST, and lay the tool down again, aligning the same diagonal lines with your seam lines.
Notice that the left and lower edges now line up with the 3-1/2 dashed vertical and horizontal lines.
Trim the right and top edges.
You now have a perfect 3.5″ QST, with no dogears to trim later!
Trim each of your QSTs.
Lay your QSTs out as shown. Sew into three rows, then sew the rows together into a block.
Your block should be 9.5″ x 12.5″.
I had a 16″ pillow form, so I added 2.5″ x 9.5″ (cut size) strips to the ends of the block, and 4″ x 16.5″ strips to the top and bottom.
I did not quilt this pillow cover, in the interest of time. I may go back and do it later.
For the back, I cut two 12″ x 16.5″ rectangles of the cream fabric. I hemmed on long edge of each rectangle, the pinned them wrong-sides-together, to the pillow top, so that the hemmed edged overlapped. I sewed all the way around the perimeter of the top, then trimmed the corners and turned it right-side out and stuffed the pillow form inside.
The fabrics used to make the “Time Shift” pillow cover were provided by Island Batik, and the thread was provided by Aurifil. Hobbs is also a sponsor of the Island Batik Ambassadors. To see what my fellow ambassadors have been up to this month, check out their blogs:
Quilting Affection Designs
Adventerous Applique and Quilting