Hi Everyone,
No, I am not going to tell you how to make the Aviatrix Medallion Quilt. I am going to show you my handy dandy way to cut fabric with templates (as long as they are geometric) without having to draw them out and cut them by hand. It is accurate and super fast. One of the templates in the Aviatrix Medallion has to be cut more than 200 times... that is just a lot of cutting without a little shortcut. It took me less than an hour my way. So I hope this helps you all too. Oh and I finished my center by the way:
Draw your templates on to semi transparent template plastic with a dark marker. Something that won't rub off like a sharpie. Make sure the marker is completely dry before you start cutting. Using an acrylic ruler in a smallish size if you have one, (just makes it easier to flip it around you can use a big one if that is all you have) I used a 6" by 12", and some scotch tape. Tape the template to your ruler with one of the angles on the edge of the ruler.
If your template is not bilateral (meaning you can't cut it in half and have two mirror images) then you need to cut two templates. I will show you that in a moment. This piece is bilateral so it will be fine. Cut your fabric in a strip that is the width of the template between the two parallel lines. Lay the ruler and template on your strip so that the two parallels line up with the top and bottom of the strip and the point close to the edge.
Cut off the edge then flip your ruler over and line up the angle with the edge you just cut.
Yes, I know it is upside down but it doesn't matter as long as you are careful not to let it slip it it still works to cut along the edge with your rotary cutter. Flip the ruler back over and around and line up your next piece.
Continue on down the strip. I cut 4 layers at a time this way. Much more than that and you start to get a little less accurate.
The diamonds are just parallelograms too so you do this the same way.
Now, if you have a piece that is still geometric but is not bilateral you can still do this. You just need to cut more templates from the plastic. For the Aviatrix Medallion there is a piece that is like this so I cut it out of the template plastic twice and taped it on two different sides of my ruler like this:
One side has the angle the other side has the straight.
Then you start with the side that has the angle at the end of your strip:
This is what happens if you don't have the other piece taped on...
You can't cut the next piece because the ruler is in the way :)
So with the side that has the straight edge taped on...
Now I know a lot of us old timers knew how to do this but some of the new sewists don't. So just a little help from me to you! Ta da!
No, I am not going to tell you how to make the Aviatrix Medallion Quilt. I am going to show you my handy dandy way to cut fabric with templates (as long as they are geometric) without having to draw them out and cut them by hand. It is accurate and super fast. One of the templates in the Aviatrix Medallion has to be cut more than 200 times... that is just a lot of cutting without a little shortcut. It took me less than an hour my way. So I hope this helps you all too. Oh and I finished my center by the way:
Draw your templates on to semi transparent template plastic with a dark marker. Something that won't rub off like a sharpie. Make sure the marker is completely dry before you start cutting. Using an acrylic ruler in a smallish size if you have one, (just makes it easier to flip it around you can use a big one if that is all you have) I used a 6" by 12", and some scotch tape. Tape the template to your ruler with one of the angles on the edge of the ruler.
If your template is not bilateral (meaning you can't cut it in half and have two mirror images) then you need to cut two templates. I will show you that in a moment. This piece is bilateral so it will be fine. Cut your fabric in a strip that is the width of the template between the two parallel lines. Lay the ruler and template on your strip so that the two parallels line up with the top and bottom of the strip and the point close to the edge.
The diamonds are just parallelograms too so you do this the same way.
Now, if you have a piece that is still geometric but is not bilateral you can still do this. You just need to cut more templates from the plastic. For the Aviatrix Medallion there is a piece that is like this so I cut it out of the template plastic twice and taped it on two different sides of my ruler like this:
Then you start with the side that has the angle at the end of your strip:
This is what happens if you don't have the other piece taped on...
So with the side that has the straight edge taped on...
Hi everyone! I'm Megan and every once in a while I blog about my sewing {and other} adventures over at 
Since our finished block size will be 4" and all seams are 1/4" we'll start with the large half-square triangles made from two 5" squares. The rule of thumb being - start with a square 1" bigger than your finished block size. {i.e. the small half-square triangles finish at 2" therefore they start with 3" squares}
Place two 5" squares right sides together. Using your ruler and a pencil, draw a line diagonally between two of the corners. Stitch 1/4" from each side of the line using the line as your guide.
Cut the square diagonally in half along the pencil line and press open along the seam. 
Using the 45 degree line on your ruler and cutting mat square up the half-square triangle block to 4 1/2" {or 2 1/2" for the small ones}. Make sure that the diagonal seam runs from corner to corner through the corners at 45 degrees. 
Each letter has the component sections numbered in the order they should be sewn. As you can see in the 'W' above, there are 4 components in this one letter. Each component will be sewn together separately and joined at the end to make the 'W'. 
Place component #1 face up on your table and then place the first scrap {green here} also face up on to so that it covers the green section labeled '1'. Next, place the terry cloth scrap {or your cream colored scrap} face down on the green scrap {i.e. right sides together!}. Shorten your stitch length. Stitch along the line between '1' and '2'.
Fold your paper back along the stitching line. Place the 1/4" line on the edge of your ruler {hopefully it has one} along the folded edge of the paper and trim the excess fabric here to 1/4". This will reduce bulk, give you a 1/4" seam, and a more clean looking finish. Fold the paper back into place the fold the cream fabric back along the seam you just stitch. Press!
Repeat these steps to finish up component #1 and component #2. Match along the sides, right sides together, and check that the paper on either side would match up. If you were to stick a pin through the paper corner it would hit the corner of the paper of the component on the other side.
Stitch along the edge of the paper. This is also a 1/4" from the edge of the fabric.
Press along the seam.
Repeat for all components of the letter {the other letters have fewer components than the 'W'} in the order in which they're numbered. And press! It's always key to press each seam and remember to trim to 1/4" before moving on to the next seam.
Once the letter is complete, square it up to 4 1/2" and remove the paper. The shortened stitch length helps with this and acts like a nice perforation. If small bits of paper remain trapped under the stitching, gently scrape with your fingernail to remove.
Putting it all together...
Using the diagram, lay out the squares and begin stitching together. 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares get combined with other 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares {and 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangles} to make pieced 4 1/2" blocks.
Take care with pinning to match all the corners together. Pressing the seams open will reduce the bulk - a good thing since we'll be standing on this bathmat.
Once all the 4 1/2" blocks are pieced, lay everything out again. In rows, pin every two blocks right sides together. At this point, I take care to make sure everything is in order and then I chain piece by feeding each unit into the machine, one right after another, without pausing to cut the thread between until all the units are stitched.
Press and repeat until you've got long rows. Then, with right sides together take the first to rows and pin along the long edge. Remember to take care to match the perpendicular seams. To keep things in place I like to pin closely on either side of the seam.
With the top stitched together, give it a good pressing and measure it. Cut your backing {this fun grey towel} to match the top. Note, my top didn't quite come out as the correct dimensions that I had planned. Not to worry though, I just cut the backing to match and all was fine and dandy.
Pin the top to the bottom, right sides together {again}. Stitch around the perimeter, but leave a 3" gap on one side. Here it's a good idea to lock your seam {stitch forward and backward} at the beginning and end since we'll be putting a little bit of stress on the seam when we turn the mat back right side out.
There you have it, a completed bathmat! For a little bigger look at the pictures in this tutorial feel free to 
