Triangles on a Roll

The nice folks at Triangles on a Roll contacted me last month to see if I would be willing to try their products. Who am I to pass up a free trial offer? Obviously, I said YES and was so excited to receive this sample in the mail a few weeks ago. I decided to try it using some scraps of 30ish reproductions and a solid grey. Here's what I did...

Since my fabrics were mostly fat quarters, I cut the paper roll into lengths just under 18". That way they would fit my fabrics. I then cut my fabric strips 6" wide because that's what the directions on the paper said to do (and that's how wide the roll is.)

I layered my fabric right sides together just like the instructions said to do. I also put the lighter fabric next to the paper and the darker fabric on the bottom. This will help when pressing later.

I pinned the strips to the paper but found that I needed fewer pins than I thought I might and reduced the number of pins with later rolls. Truly, this one's up to you...personal preference and all. :)

Then I sewed on the dotted lines and followed the arrows. I'll admit, that while this is very clear, I got a little distracted by the TV and sewed in the opposite direction one time (no worries, it worked just fine anyway!!) Whew!

This is what it will look like from the back. See how the seam lines are parallel? If yours doesn't look like this, something went wrong. But frankly, if I can do it while watching tv so can you!

After taking the pins out, it was time to trim. I cut my strips in half, then trimmed the outside edges. Easy peasy. I then cut all of the units into squares. This is not a rule, I just liked doing it this way.

See all those cute little squares? Now I cut them into triangles on the solid line.

And since I didn't want to have to do any trimming later, I snipped the corners using my rotary cutter. It was super fast and prevented having to do this later.

Then I pressed all the triangles before removing the paper. This means that the shapes wouldn't get distorted. Remember how I put the light fabric next to the paper? Now when I pressed the units open it automatically means all the seam allowances are facing the dark fabric. Clever huh?

Okay, now to tear the paper off. I'll be honest, I wasn't looking forward to this. It was a SNAP though! I just put my fingernail in the center of the seam as shown above, then I gripped the outside corner of the paper and pulled. The seam tore neatly and easily and there was no mess. I then pulled off the strip along the seam allowance and was done!

Look at all those pretty little PERFECT half square triangles! Even with taking the time to stop and photograph each step, I made 24 of these in less than 20 minutes. That's less than one minute per unit. I expect that time to be even faster now that I'm doing these in batches.

I prep several at a time and zip right through them! Woohoo!

I think I'm in love. 

While I did not get paid for this review, I sure wouldn't mind if they wanted to send me some more to test . *WINK* I would love to try the ones that are for flying geese and the 60* triangles. To see a complete list of their products go here. Check your local quilt shop too, as many carry them in stock.

Enjoy every stitch!

Diane