March 7, 2023

Perfect Points when sewing Equilateral Triangles

Hello, I am Jemima Flendt and I design and create Quilt and Sewing Patterns for my label Tied with a Ribbon, specialising in modern, fun designs that pack a punch and deliver helpful skills and tips so that even a beginner Quilter/sewer can feel confident in making. I have written 3 books – Weekend Quilting, Quilt Big and Quilt It, Crochet it! My professional Background as a High School Home Economics Teacher has driven my passion for teaching and sharing all things Quilts and sewing. I have also designed 2 Fabric Collections for Robert Kaufman/Two Green Zebras. I thoroughly love teaching Quilting and Sewing classes, Retreats and Workshops here in Australia and overseas as well as contributing to many major Quilting Publications and offering my signature Online Beginners Quilt Course – New Quilt on the Block. Excited to share with you how to make perfect points when sewing equilateral triangles

Some of my popular designs such as my End Game Quilt and Love Triangle Quilt use these EQ Triangles as the basis for the design.

EQ Triangles can feel a little intimidating or even scary if you haven’t tried them before. You have seen all the Equilateral Triangles all over the Internet and Pinterest and wondered how do makers achieve all those perfect points? You have tried to put some Equilateral Triangles together but none of your points meet and it doesn’t come together how you imagined!

I have taught many Workshops on Tacking Equilateral Triangles, so I am here today to share with you some of my best tips for sewing with Equilateral Triangles to get perfect points every time.

My top tips for Perfect points

Keep in mind that 1 HST makes 2 QST.

1. Pressing – use a Starch Spray (I love Best Press) to help starch all your fabrics before you press them all. This will help flatten your fabrics and make your fabric “feel” nice and firm to cut. You will also notice how this helps the bias in the EQ Triangles stay as firm as possible for when it comes to sewing your Equilateral triangles.

2. Cutting – It’s best to make sure that you start on the right track. Before you begin to cut you will want to ensure your templates are accurate.

Begin cutting our your project with a nice sharp blade in your rotary cutter and take your time. Accuracy in cutting will help at the next step of sewing. Rushed cutting can snowball and turn into pieces that don’t align as you sew so your patience will be rewarded.

3. Ruler – There are many rulers on the market and again this is important to test any ruler size you have against any paper template provided. Always double check alongside the given paper template in the pattern (check the size scale – 1in square)

Also, if your ruler is “Top Trimmed” – meaning it has flat points – cut these off when cutting out your pieces. These will help you line up your seam allowance.

4. Sewing – when it comes to sewing your EQ triangles together – match your points at the seam intersection (not along the raw edge of the fabrics). Place a pin where the seam meets at 1/4in to hold these points together. I like to put my pin through on a diagonal to hold down seam allowances from either side.

Next, sew the seam through where the points intersect. You may need to sew slightly scanter or wider at this point, so your stitch runs exactly through this point.

With these helpful tips you will find it easy to tackle equilateral triangles.

If you have found these tips for sewing Equilateral Triangles helpful, then you will want to sign up for my Newsletter which is always full of helpful quilting tips and tricks.

When you sign up, you will receive a 20% Discount code that you can use Storewide in my store. In my Newsletter there is lots of information about all my upcoming patterns, special offers, where I will be teaching as well as great tips and tricks to help improve your quilting.