Triangle Cutting from Strips with Crafters Edge

Woohoo! I've gotten a start on my table runner project from the Stunning 3D Quilts Simplified book (affiliate link). Just look at all those triangles!

Two hundred and twenty-four to be exact! Here's that number again, 224, for more impact. And all cut with my new Crafters Edge Crossover II machine and the 3.5" equilateral triangle die, making them all the same perfect size.

How easy was it? Super easy! I cut my strips to 3.5", stacking them together for 6 layers of fabric for cutting through the die machine. After carefully setting them on the triangle die, and lining up the parallel cut edges with the die's cutting edges, 

it was just a matter of laying the metal and clear plastic plates on top to run the bundle through the machine. And ta-da! A perfect triangle!

Keeping the layered fabric together, I then flipped them over so the previous cut matched the triangle edge. Again, carefully lining up the parallel edges and now the angled cut by both sight and feel, 

I cut another set of 6 triangles. And continued until I had the number of triangles needed for that fabric. Turns out, lining up the cut edges with the die became easier, because after 2-3 runs through a #5 cutting pressure, the remaining part of the strips tend to get pressed together. That means the strips stay together and don't shift making for easy placement on the die.

After that pretty aqua batik, it was on to the second fabric, and then the third, making around 46 cuts through the Crossover II for 224 triangles. And those triangles are perfect! No variation in width occurred as could have happened with template cutting. I don't know about you, but for me, slippage always seems to occur with templates.

Now that I have all of my triangles cut, I'm set to start sewing my own 3D table runner quilt design.

Notice in the picture above, the pink 3D layout. Yes, I could have gone with the Knots table runner pattern in the book, which is pretty simple,

but, me being me, I had to design my own. So, instead of four squares of the Knots table runner, I eliminated one square and stretched the remaining three into hexagons. Now all I need to do is get sewing! See you soon!