Wednesday 12 March 2014

60 Deg Triangles without a template

I have searched high and low for a triangle ruler that measures 60Degrees. No Luck and buying it online is sometimes just not a good option for me.
and then..........

I remembered that I have a long thick ruler with what looks like a protractor image on it. I dug out the cardboard packaging that it came in and lo and behold a way to cut out 60 degree triangles on it.


I started with a 5x5" square of this really cute fabric and ...


firstly you need to fold it in half.


with the folded side, you hold up the ruler with the 30 Degree line (because its in half) onto the fold and on the top of the ruler you can see the beginning point.


You can't cut just yet!



Look at the bottom edge. The triangle will have a funny bottom, so you need to move the ruler down so that the right hand edge of the ruler is on the bottom corner (right) and the 30 deg. line is still on the folded edge.







Here you can see I moved the ruler down and now I can cut my triangle out.





Here is my triangle folded open again and I measured the accuracy of this against the 60 degree lines on the ruler.


It actually works.


I measured the triangle again and it is now 4 and 1/4" high and 5" across on the bottom.

I decided to draw around this onto a piece of cardboard and then use that to line up a few more triangles without getting too much waste.






I made myself a new mug-rug (hexi shape).

The batting and a back were cut out and put onto the pieced hexi and then sewn around 5 sides, turned back the right way and then sewn closed.

the quilting on top of it was added in last and there you go....


I'm going to go on the hunt for measurement tables for this type of triangle cutting. Will let you all know if I find anything worth while.
















Now my cup has a nice mug-rug next to my PC.



If you would like to know how to cut a hexi without a template ruler then have a look here:

http://quiltartdesigns.blogspot.com/2014/01/hexis-without-templates.html

Have a good Wednesday.




5 comments:

Vera said...

Looks interesting but it seems like lot of waist.You could also cut strip 4 1/4 wide and use the 60 degree mark. Just a suggestion :-)

Esther Aliu said...

It's always nice to find a way to do things without an extra tool and your hexi mug rug is so sweet!

Lorna McMahon said...

Love the quilting on your new mug rug, Janeen! Gotta love those 60 degree triangles. They are sew versatile!

Kathleen said...

Isn't it nice when our rulers serve more than one purpose?! Cuz they ain't cheap!!! Love the quilting on your mug rug, especially in the gold section.

Heather {Woods of Bell Trees} said...

Oh my goodness this is so cute! I made a "tea mat" once and I thought maybe I was just making it up, of course mine wasn't quite as fancy though! Your mat is just lovely!