Trimming Crystalline HRTs
If you’re new to creating and trimming HRTs, check out this blog post before proceeding so you can understand the basics!
The Crystalline pattern is tons of fun, but trimming the faceted HRT blocks can be tricky. As specified in the pattern, I highly suggest that you practice assembling and trimming these blocks with scrap fabric first. It’s important to keep in mind that everyone’s blocks will be slightly different, and therefore the trimming will be slightly different. Very slight variances in seam allowance, triangle alignment, and pressing will make the optimal trimming vary for each quilter to some degree. The trimming instructions listed in the pattern are my recommendations based on the average results and experiences of my testers and myself, and this post includes a few extra options and photos to help.
Trimming Tips & Tricks
Multiple testers pointed out that using this ruler made the trimming process much easier, and the 45 degree line on it lined up well with the A/B and A/C seams. While this ruler is by no means necessary, it may make your accuracy much better and improve the process.
Another method that some testers used was simply to line up their ruler so that the background diagonal line fell along the 1/4” tick mark on the top of the ruler as shown, and then with the 6 1/4” mark at the bottom and trimming to size. This will make sure your points are all in the right spot, but may take some matchmaking to make sure you have pairs where the A HSTs points match ups.
A couple testers also found that sewing their blocks together to form the final block and then trimming them created easier matching blocks with good points. This method requires you to be very precise in your initial sewing of the rectangles together, but is a valid option to try!
Detailed Photos
Here’s how I personally trim my faceted blocks, with some close of photos!
Line up the 1/4” mark at the top of your ruler with the background/B seam. Slide your ruler around until you also have the 3 1/4” mark lined up with the A/B seam. This is the measurement that happened to work best for me, but experiment a bit and see if there’s a point that lines up better for your HRTs. Trim the top and right side once you have your ruler lined up.
2. Trim the bottom and left side to the final measurement listed in the pattern. Your bottom left seam convergence of the background, A, and B fabric should line up at the 1/4” square mark in the corner of your ruler. You can see here in my example that mine didn’t line up perfectly - that’s ok! While the goal is for these seams to all line up at this point, this is a quilt where finished is better than perfect, and being a hair off here and there will be fine. As you play with trimming these blocks, you may find that your bottom corners line up perfectly after trimming the top, or you may find that you want to try to line up the bottom corner before you trim the top to find the best spot for your ruler.
3. I like to at least start by trimming my HRTs in pairs, to make sure that the A seam lines up perfectly for each block. You can see here that they do!
