Quilt Guild This Week - The Topic Was Rulers

At our local Quilt Guild this week, one of our members gave a demonstration of projects she made with the specialty rulers and templates that she had in her collection.  You know, the drawer or box or pile everyone has of those notions that seemed so vital when we bought them... we all have them.

Linda did a super job of showing us how (and in some cases how not) to use more than a dozen rulers and templates for actual projects.  I lost count as to how many there were in total.  Some she said she loved, some not so much, but I have to say she did a beautiful job on the projects!

I own this ruler and I do use it.

One we probably all have is a Flying Goose (or Geese) template/ruler.  I have at least two of them.  The one I have does only two sizes.  Linda had that one plus another that does maybe 8 sizes. 

There were a couple of things she showed that I would never have imagined, like a quilt block made from a 2.5 inch strip using the tool you use to trim your binding ends.  The arrangement of the blocks makes it look like ribbons running down the quilt.

Image may not be the exact
one she used but this is
the right shape.

That made me think about my own personal pile of rulers and templates.  I hate to admit it but it's bigger than a bread box!

I've got a whole bunch of the Marti Michel templates that at first I thought were kind of an affectation... I avoided templates for years and years.  Then I saw Marti at Sewing Weekend giving a lecture about how quilting has evolved over the years.  She demonstrated some of the ways the templates actually save time in sewing by giving you accurate cuts.  Gotta love that. 

 

Linda showed us a runner she made
using a half hexie template.

 

Some of the templates I have get lots of use, and some of them, well, not so much.  I have a big hexagon that makes either full or half hexes.  I really need to get that one out for my next 'new' project.  I want to make one of the runners she showed us. 

But I do like the log cabin rulers.

Yes, there is a ruler for log cabin blocks, and yes, it does save time when you use it!

One of the things that always annoyed me about log cabin blocks was squaring them up.  And if you don't square every round, pretty soon your blocks get wavy on the outside edges and pretty soon you can have a bowl instead.

 

So if you do as Marti demonstrates, and cut all the pieces ahead of time, you can cut exactly the right sizes, match the ends, assembly line sew, and get accurate, flat blocks every time.  AND if you do as Marti recommended during her lecture and cut your strips lengthwise instead of across the grain, they'll be even more stable.

You know the problem when your borders expand as you sew them on?  The way the quilt police always teach has you measure the length of your quilt and cut the borders that size, then fit the quilt top to the borders.  When you're done, they are the same size and your quilt is square.

These rulers are on the same principle.  Then there's two on each ruler that, if you cut one side from the wider side and one from the narrower, you get a fat and skinny LC that makes your quilt block look curved while you sewed only straight lines.  I need to get one of those going.

Oh oh... two UFO finishes just lined up!*

 

One of the better things I've done with my rulers and templates is to put grippers on the backs so they don't slip when you use them with a rotary cutter.  I like these little TrueGrips.  I also like the film you can use on the back of the entire ruler.

I store my templates in a drawer along with my smaller rulers.  My big rulers go on the table or on the wall in one of these wooden slatted holders.  The medium rulers go on the wall to the left of my sewing machine and the big or long rulers go on the table at my cutting station.

I have been drooling over this shelf unit.  I'll have to hint when my birthday gets closer.

 

Linda summed up her presentation by saying the job is easier with the right tools and I agree.  And you cannot have too many tools.  I hear women say all the time 'I don't need another ruler'.  But you never, ever, ever hear a man say 'I don't need another screwdriver (drill, hammer, fishing lure, socket wrench, etc)'.  Trust me on this.

Sew on...

 

 *New Years resolution, finish one UFO for every new project started.