Try a Tool by Studio 180 Design

This month our challenge was to make a quilt using the Studio 180 Design tool that came in our second Island Batik Ambassador box. I was given the Star 60 tool, Studio 180 Design’s newest tool, used to make 60 degree quilt designs with 17 size options!

If you have been following me, you would have seen that my June post, Island Batik Ambassador’s “Free Theme”, was also a Star 60 quilt. I made stars with triangle sides, giving a secondary star shape. I used bright colors for the stars with a light background. Be sure to check out my June post when you finish here.

So this had to be different. I started with the Blue Jeans Fat Quarter bundle given to me by Island Batik. There were twenty fat quarters in the pack.

I played with designs on EQ8 and came up with something I liked, but wasn’t sure how it would go together. If I cut the larger shapes and stitched with partial seams, the quilt would be a bear to piece, so I decided to stick with the diamond shapes just like I was making a star quilt.

I organized my fabrics into dark and light and began cutting with the tool. For the side triangles, I cut strips to the appropriate size according to the tool’s directions and using the guidelines on the Star 60 tool rotated to cut the triangles. The best thing about Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 tools is that everything is a little bigger than it needs to be, so you can cut multiple layers at a time and it will still be precise in the end.

To cut the Diamond shapes I cut strips then use the tool to cut them into the Diamond size I need. Then I headed to my machine and begin to strip piece the units. The triangles line perfectly on the diamond. I recommend sewing them diamond side up for accuracy.

Shapes are trimmed and ready to be sewn together.

Those diamond shapes could be rearranged back into a star.

Now for a little design wall playtime:

To sew together, I sewed half blocks so I didn’t have to deal with the hexagon shapes. As I sewed my rows together, I added side triangles to maintain the hexagon shape. I added a Navy fabric from Island Batik’s Basics collection for the inner border which helped define the quilt, bringing back the hexagon shape.

For the outer border, I used Bubble Hole Gun Metal fabric.

Fabric was given to me by Island Batik, I used Hobbs cotton batting, Schmetz needles, Aurifil thread for piecing and quilting, and the Studio 180 Design‘s Star 60 tool.