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The Friendship Star
The Friendship Star is a very
easy block to make. In this lesson, we will be making
triangles the "easy way" as presented in the
The Pinwheel
Block lesson.
The Friendship Star is a 9-patch. You can
see the 9 parts of the block in the picture. The center is a
square, the corners are squares, and the rest of the blocks are half
square triangles.
It is just a mater of piecing
them all together.
Whenever possible, I try and
use the quick method of making half square triangles. Not only
do you save time, but when you sew the fabric before cutting it, you
do not have to align bias edges and sew them together. Bias
stretches so easily. It is always better if you do not have to
deal with a bias edge.
As you can see from the drawing, the solid
line you cut is on the bias. However, you do not cut that line
until after you have sewn on both sides of it. So you run no
risk of stretching the block on the bias edge.
Here is some more math for you
to remember- sorry! However, this is a lot easier than the
math for the half square triangles presented in the
Making Squares in Squares lesson.
Look at the drawing again, and
this time just focus on the upper left quadrant or square.
If you are using 4-inch
squares. You put them together, draw your diagonal line, and
sew on each side of the line. The size of the square you will
end up with is 3 1/2 inches.
You started with a 4-inch
square, but you have used up 1/4 inch for the seam on both of the
fabrics. So that leaves you with 3 1/2 inches.
If your half square triangles
are 3 1/2 inches, you know that will also be the size of the
squares in the block.
My personal opinion is that The
Friendship Star looks best when it is kept small, and used with
similar blocks as a border, or accent. It is also a great
block for a folk art quilt.
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