A Quilting Journey

Tri Recs Ruler Fun

Happy Thursday!

Our embroidery/quilt club this week focused on using the Tri-Recs tool.

tri recs ruler combo

tri recs ruler combo

The Tri-Recs ruler combination is the easy way to make triangles with in a square – a popular feature in many patchwork quilt patterns. I find it to be one of the handiest ruler sets I own. There is a cut off angle on the recs portion of the combo set that makes aligning and sewing the units extremely accurate.

Initially I had trouble with the set but after watching Bonnie Hunter’s videos the light bulb came on and I’ve loved the Tri-Recs rulers ever since.

The recs portion of the tool allows you to make half rectangle triangles — which is my favorite. The tricky part is understanding if you need a right or left diagonal seam – it’s best to sketch out your design before cutting the fabric — I learned the hard way ?

Our first project was piecing simple hrt units for placemats using the recs only portion of the tool. The placemats are 12 x 18 inches, each half rectangle unit measures 3 x 6 inches – you need 12 units to make one placemat. The fabric I used was from Moda’s V&Co ombre basics line.

Tri Recs placemat

Tri Recs placemat

For our table runner I created a petal block and used the 6.5 x 6.5 inch square of background fabric in the center for the embroidery. The petal block finishes at 12 x 12 inches. Each triangle in a square finishes at 3 inches — you need 8 units to make the petal block, you also need (4) 3.5 x 3.5 unfinished squares of background fabric for the corners.

tri recs petaal

tri recs petal

Again using recs only portion I designed a funky pinwheel block that also finishes at 12 inches. Each quarter section of the pinwheel is made with a 3 x 6 half rectangle triangle, a 3.5 x 3.5 inch half square triangle, plus (1) 3.5 x 3.5 unfinished squares of background fabric for the corners.

Tri Recs Pinwheel

tri recs pinwheel

After adding sashing and border the table runner measures 15 x 41 inches.

tri recs

tri recs table runner

I absolutely loved the backing fabric used for both placemats and table runner. I found it a JoAnn’s!

I also displayed another table topper using the tool — I hope to have it finished soon.

tri recs

tri recs wip

If you are interested in making larger triangle in a square units or half rectangle units, Creative Grids offers the Perfect Rectangle and the Triangle Squared Rulers. Definitely more pricey and aren’t sold as a set.

I used the Creative Grids rulers to create a candy corn pinwheel – my sample pillow block is pictured below.

tri recs candy corn

tri recs

Have you tried the Tri-Recs tool? If so what’s your favorite quilt block to make using this ruler set?

Happy Sewing!

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