trigonometry/geometry help please

Good morning veryone

I know there is someone out there who can help me.

Trigonometry/geometry was never my strong point back in high school
(and that's been a while), and at the time I never thought I would
have any use for it in real life. As a doctor I don't use it, but
who'd have guessed that it would come in handy in my quilting forays!

I am currently working on a sampler quilt. 56 12" blocks, all
different. I got most from quilter's cache (www.quilterscache.com).

Right now, the block I'm struggling with is called kite's tail. For
this I need four blocks set on point. That means I need four squares
with a diagonal of 3.5" (including seam allowance) to make a 12"
block. So what size do I need to cut my squares to make a square with
a 3.5" diagonal? The instructions on the site say to cut a 4.5" block.
I did that. Spent a good part of my class yesterday sewing these
pieces together, only to end up with a block that would have done
great as a placemat (and a large one at that!). Obviously 4.5" square
is too large! So I fiddled around with Pythagoras for a while, but
when it came to doing square root calcualtions I gave up. I then
fiddled around with an omnigrid ruler and I came up with a measurement
of 2.5" squares to give me a 3.5" diagonal. Is this correct? I really
don't want to cut into the too large fabric squares until I'm sure;
now they are too large so I can easily fix that but if I then cut them
too small, it will be a problem!

IS there an easy way of calculating these things? Is there a handy
website that will give you measurements like these?

Please help!

Thanks

Claudia

Yes, Claudia, your 2.5" squares will give you a diagonal that's as near
as dammit to 3.5".
The diagonal will *always* be longer than the side of the square, so if
you remember that, you will know in future that the 4.5" could never
have been right.
I suggest that, if you know you are not strong on this kind of thing,
acquire a pad of graph paper - even if it is metric it would help
although the measurements are in inches. If you are stuck like this
again, just draw out what you want - the abstract becomes visual and any
problems usually clear up straight away.

Hope this helps. No doubt there is a ready reckoner somewhere, but with
graph paper you don't really need it.
..

In message
,
claudia writes
Good morning veryone

I know there is someone out there who can help me.

Trigonometry/geometry was never my strong point back in high school
(and that's been a while), and at the time I never thought I would
have any use for it in real life. As a doctor I don't use it, but
who'd have guessed that it would come in handy in my quilting forays!

I am currently working on a sampler quilt. 56 12" blocks, all
different. I got most from quilter's cache (www.quilterscache.com).

Right now, the block I'm struggling with is called kite's tail. For
this I need four blocks set on point. That means I need four squares
with a diagonal of 3.5" (including seam allowance) to make a 12"
block. So what size do I need to cut my squares to make a square with
a 3.5" diagonal? The instructions on the site say to cut a 4.5" block.
I did that. Spent a good part of my class yesterday sewing these
pieces together, only to end up with a block that would have done
great as a placemat (and a large one at that!). Obviously 4.5" square
is too large! So I fiddled around with Pythagoras for a while, but
when it came to doing square root calcualtions I gave up. I then
fiddled around with an omnigrid ruler and I came up with a measurement
of 2.5" squares to give me a 3.5" diagonal. Is this correct? I really
don't want to cut into the too large fabric squares until I'm sure;
now they are too large so I can easily fix that but if I then cut them
too small, it will be a problem!

IS there an easy way of calculating these things? Is there a handy
website that will give you measurements like these?

Please help!

Thanks

Claudia

--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

My down-and-dirty method for this sort of thing is to measure off the
desired diagonal length on the 45-degree line of my cutting mat, then
follow the next biggest vertical (or horizontal) line down to the row
of numbers. Math-free!
Roberta in D

On Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:41:15 -0700 (PDT), claudia
wrote:

Good morning veryone

I know there is someone out there who can help me.

Trigonometry/geometry was never my strong point back in high school
(and that's been a while), and at the time I never thought I would
have any use for it in real life. As a doctor I don't use it, but
who'd have guessed that it would come in handy in my quilting forays!

I am currently working on a sampler quilt. 56 12" blocks, all
different. I got most from quilter's cache (www.quilterscache.com).

Right now, the block I'm struggling with is called kite's tail. For
this I need four blocks set on point. That means I need four squares
with a diagonal of 3.5" (including seam allowance) to make a 12"
block. So what size do I need to cut my squares to make a square with
a 3.5" diagonal? The instructions on the site say to cut a 4.5" block.
I did that. Spent a good part of my class yesterday sewing these
pieces together, only to end up with a block that would have done
great as a placemat (and a large one at that!). Obviously 4.5" square
is too large! So I fiddled around with Pythagoras for a while, but
when it came to doing square root calcualtions I gave up. I then
fiddled around with an omnigrid ruler and I came up with a measurement
of 2.5" squares to give me a 3.5" diagonal. Is this correct? I really
don't want to cut into the too large fabric squares until I'm sure;
now they are too large so I can easily fix that but if I then cut them
too small, it will be a problem!

IS there an easy way of calculating these things? Is there a handy
website that will give you measurements like these?

Please help!

Thanks

Claudia

On Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:42:23 +0000, Patti
wrote:

Yes, Claudia, your 2.5" squares will give you a diagonal that's as near
as dammit to 3.5".
The diagonal will *always* be longer than the side of the square, so if
you remember that, you will know in future that the 4.5" could never
have been right.
I suggest that, if you know you are not strong on this kind of thing,
acquire a pad of graph paper - even if it is metric it would help
although the measurements are in inches. If you are stuck like this
again, just draw out what you want - the abstract becomes visual and any
problems usually clear up straight away.

Hope this helps. No doubt there is a ready reckoner somewhere, but with
graph paper you don't really need it.

Claudia, I'm one of the math impaired quilters of the world, and yet I
enjoy resizing blocks to fit my desires. Patti is so right. When in
doubt, I draw it out. Once I have the block drawn to the proper size
I can trace any needed pieces onto typing paper and then add my seam
allowances. With the perfect piece templates in front of me I can
measure, cut, and sew any block in whatever size I choose. No need to
rely on my math, someone else's measurements or math, a website, or
odd formulas. I hope this helps you out of your next quilting math
problem.
Debra

My art for sale at:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/DesignsByDeb

To find the length of the side of a square when you know the diagonal,
divide by 1.4 (the square root of 2, rounded to one decimal place). Your
ruler gave you the right answer; 3.5 divided by 1/4 equals 2.5. To
find the diagonal when you know the length of the side, multiply by 1.4.

Julia in MN

claudia wrote:
Good morning veryone

I know there is someone out there who can help me.

Trigonometry/geometry was never my strong point back in high school
(and that's been a while), and at the time I never thought I would
have any use for it in real life. As a doctor I don't use it, but
who'd have guessed that it would come in handy in my quilting forays!

I am currently working on a sampler quilt. 56 12" blocks, all
different. I got most from quilter's cache (www.quilterscache.com).

Right now, the block I'm struggling with is called kite's tail. For
this I need four blocks set on point. That means I need four squares
with a diagonal of 3.5" (including seam allowance) to make a 12"
block. So what size do I need to cut my squares to make a square with
a 3.5" diagonal? The instructions on the site say to cut a 4.5" block.
I did that. Spent a good part of my class yesterday sewing these
pieces together, only to end up with a block that would have done
great as a placemat (and a large one at that!). Obviously 4.5" square
is too large! So I fiddled around with Pythagoras for a while, but
when it came to doing square root calcualtions I gave up. I then
fiddled around with an omnigrid ruler and I came up with a measurement
of 2.5" squares to give me a 3.5" diagonal. Is this correct? I really
don't want to cut into the too large fabric squares until I'm sure;
now they are too large so I can easily fix that but if I then cut them
too small, it will be a problem!

IS there an easy way of calculating these things? Is there a handy
website that will give you measurements like these?

Please help!

Thanks

Claudia


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Thanks for all the help girls.

This thread is being printed as we "speak" for storage in the absolute
must keep reference file!

Thanks

Claudia