Tagged: half-rectangle triangles
Sunday sketch #24
In this party season, a little storm of confetti (or maybe snow, for those in the northern hemisphere)…

Each parallelogram is in a 3 x 2 unit, which is offset from the next unit by a 2 x 1 rectangle. The parallelograms could be constructed by flanking a 3 x 2 rectangle with two 3 x 1 triangles (paper-piecing for accuracy, perhaps). Or, pair two 3:1 half-rectangle triangles back to back, which introduces new colour/fabric possibilities to the design:

The good news is, Bloc Loc makes a 3:1 half-rectangle triangle ruler – in two sizes!
(Not an affiliate link… I just love the precision that Bloc Locs enable!)
Sunday sketch #22
Following the theme of what shapes can fit in a 2 x 2 square (see #11, #12, #15, #16, #18, #20…), I’ve been playing around with half-rectangle triangles again. I tried to prevent adjacent shapes from joining on their horizontal or vertical lines, but a few overlaps snuck in (e.g. fifth row down, about two thirds of the way across… a shaded and an unshaded triangle have their backs together).

I tried to avoid the heaviness of those adjoining shapes by shading in the back/forth triangles while leaving the up/down triangles empty (the design could also be rotated 90 degrees to alternate that colour scheme).
This quilt design could be made from rectangles and half-rectangle triangles, or by adding a triangle to a square. The latter method would waste fabric (the other half of the half-rectangle triangle that’s cut away from the square); the former would involve a bit more sewing and more seams. I’d prefer the former just for the sake of precision – I know there’s no way I’d manage to get that triangle in the square just right.
Sunday sketch #7
Alternating the orientation of half-rectangle triangles adds some interesting movement.

In the spirit of transparency, and giving credit to inspiration, I had a look around my Pinterest feed to see what other quilts are similar to this design. I see a resemblance to the Colour Explosion quilt from Bonjour Quilts, the Modern X quilt from Christa Watson, and the Mesa Mini Quilt from Michael Ann Made, among others.
I didn’t derive my pattern from anything else, but it may have been inadvertently inspired by others’ work. Who can tell what ideas floating around my head inform each sketch?
