Trianglepoint Inspiration

September 24, 2010

Originally posted 2009-04-20 06:04:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

striped triangle quilt

As my friend Debbie would remind me trianglepoint is so fun and so easy, and this quilt, which is on Material Obsession (look down a little way in the Be Content post) is a wonderful springboard for making a trianglepoint piece.

What is Trianglepoint you ask?

Trianglepoint is a technique developed by Sherlee Lantz in the 1970′s which uses straight stitches to make equilateral triangles. Quilters might also call these 60 degree triangles, because all the angles are 60 degrees.

Unlike right triangles, these are not half a square or rectangle, so they aren’t as intuitive to make, but once you learn the basic technique, they are so fun. You can now make hexagons and put many of them together to make lager triangles and wide stripes.

Sherlee wrote a book, Trianglepoint, about the technique, which can often be found in used book shops and library and guild sales. Buy it if you find it.

stitches for needlepoint trianglepoint diagrams

A single triangle is diagrammed above. There are two important things to notice about it. First, it must have an odd number of stitches, commonly 5, 7, or 9. Second the stitches differ in length by two threads. Remember these two things and you’re on your way.

needlepoint trianglepoint triangle

You can make lines of triangles by alternating the direction of the points (up and down) and you can build larger triangles by making several rows of different lengths.

That’s the key to this piece. The quilter made large triangles and then divided them into diagonal stripes. You can do the same.

diagonal striped needlepoint-triangle in trianglepoint

This diagram shows you how this is done in the smallest possible diagonal striped triangle.

To finish the design, alternate striped triangles with solid ones.

An expanded discussion of trianglepoint, along with a free project will be available on the All about Needlepoint site, later this week (I hope). I’ll let you know when it’s up.

Related posts:

  1. Scrap Bag Needlepoint – Pyramids Mini-sock
  2. Quilts as a Source of Inspiration
  3. Hexagonal Stitches
  4. Fractal Needlepoint – A Great Idea!
  5. Adaptation Twinchy Gallery

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2 Responses to Trianglepoint Inspiration

  1. kim on August 21, 2009 at 9:50 am

    I’m trying to find out if there is a pattern that shows the trianglepoint design on the pillow. I love that and have looked all over your site to find this. I would love to have this pattern. Kim

  2. jmp on August 21, 2009 at 3:26 pm

    As far as I know there isn’t a needlepoint version of this quilt pattern, although I’m thinking of doing one.

    Pretty much the biggest source of Trianglepoint patterns is the book Trianglepoint. There are also one or two in my Scrap Bag Needlepoint book.

    Keep Stitching, Janet

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