"Yes, I was tempted by this technique. And yes, I won't do it again."
That is Ginnie Lynn, half a minute into Block 4 of her Chocolate Sampler Quilt Along, talking about a way of making half square triangles that a great many quilters have tried. She compares it to a chocolate that looks wonderful in the box and disappoints the moment you bite into it. The block she is building is a pinwheel, and the technique she is warning you off is one we have written about ourselves, which is exactly why this one is worth watching closely.
We teach the four at a time method here, so it would be strange not to say something.
Yvonne's position is that the method is fine in one place: the middle of a block, where the units around it are sewn to it on all sides and hold that soft edge steady. Not on the outer corners, and not much above five or six inches, because that is too long a run of bias to trust.
Now look at what Ginnie is making. A pinwheel is four half square triangles in a two by two grid, and every one of them sits on the outside, with both raw edges on the raw edge of the block. There is no inside to a pinwheel.
So the two of them are not really disagreeing. For this block, in this layout, she is right. The lesson to take away is not never use four at a time. It is that the method you choose depends on where the unit is going to end up.
Marbelia Fernandes
The Fabric Hut Co-Founder
P.S. If you have ever had a pinwheel come out wonky and blamed your sewing, this is probably why. It was not you. It was where the bias was.
Block, test and tutorial by Ginnie Lynn. Do watch it there.
If you want the Pinwheel block written up on its own, we have done that: how to make a Pinwheel quilt block, with a cutting chart for six sizes, the trick that makes the center lie flat, and a free one page pattern sheet to print.
