Sometimes adapting someone else's pattern or tutorial to get exactly what you are looking for is a cinch.
Sometimes, not so much.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm embarking on a project based on Little Miss Shabby's Hugs & Kisses block tutorial. However, I needed to adjust the tutorial ever so slightly for 2 main reasons, both based in the fact that I am using clothes and ties for the blocks: her technique creates WAY too much waste if one has a finite amount of material to use; since I'm using ties for the accent strips, I can't cut full squares for that .75" strip just to throw out the rest.
So I did some test runs.
Starting with that same 5" square for the main part of the block unit I tested combining the accent strip and corner triangles a little differently. Just guessing at appropriate dimensions, I cut a rectangle of what would become the accent strips. I think I started with a 2.5" x 5" rectangle. Then taking a 2.5" square for the corners, I cut it once on the diagonal and placed a triangle centered on each of the long sides of the rectangle, stitching each down 1/4" from the edge. Pressed them out and trimmed so that I had a square measuring about 3.5" (I think).
Instead of lining up the pieced square exactly with the raw edge of the base, I offset it by approximately 1/4" so that I could use both sides of that block equally. However, something in the "approximately" made for less-than-uniform outcomes. In 3 test blocks I did with stash fabrics, each containing 2 corner units, I think I had at least 3 different widths of accent strips show up.
But each of this little testers added up did exactly what they were intended to do – help me figure out a formula by which to cut and piece the blocks for the memory quilt. So I got bold and started cutting into the clothing my aunt sent me last week. And voila! The first 4 completed units!
In a few days I'll try to publish a post that illustrates how I ended up making these guys and shows how I worked with the shirts and ties to make them usable yardage (not quite as adeptly as the inspiring Luke Haynes!), but for now I'll just say I think I found my groove. Which is good since I have lots more of these to do!