simply solids - triangles

As I've mentioned before, I'm the leader of the month of May for the Simply Solids Bee.  I was playing around with a bunch of ideas for blocks to make, and I always seemed to come back to triangles.  Not half-square triangles, but isosceles triangles.  

I looked around for tutorials for my group to follow, but all triangle quilt tutorials used strips of triangles sewn together.  That doesn't really work for a bee where members have to make blocks.

So, members, here is what I'd like to you do for me this month.  It's a bit large, but there is no complicated piecing.

I sent out 25 pre-cut triangles to every member of my group.  (I used a paper template to cut these out and it took me a good two evenings to cut all them all!).

Randomly arrange the triangles into a triangle - please be completely random and as much as you tend to put things in patterns (something I always seem to do), please don't.

Now we're going to sew the bottom row together in groups of three.

Take two triangles and line them up against the side that will be sewn together, point to point, and sew with a scant 1/4" seam. 

Open it up and sew on the next triangle.

I am going to press the seam allowances towards the outer triangles, so to make sure I get the second triangle on right, I finger press the seam allowance down and match up the points of the unsewn triangle to the sewn ones.

Press the seam allowances to the outer triangles.

To sew together groups of three, match up the sides that will be sewn together.

Here's a trick I use to make sure I get my points just right.  Hold the pressed seam allowance in the opposite direction and match the unsewn point to the sewn points.

Let go of the seam allowance and you have the perfect pointy bit sticking out over top.  Pin in place and sew.

Press the seam allowance as shown.

Sometimes, you might have to trim.  Just measure up 1/4" from the point and trim off the excess.  This will help to get perfect points. Not that all my points are absolutely perfect, but I try.

When sewing together rows of triangles, I always match up the points by peeking between the two layers and pinning where the points should match.  You may have to ease the fabric together between pins - that's okay.  In fact, in making my 'block' I did a lot of easing.

Here's to rows sewn together. 

Then just continue until you have all the pieces together in one large triangle

I hope this little explanation is clear enough, but if you have any questions, please ask!