Hello my little monkeys! We are back for the final installment of the 18" Square Quilters Select ruler deep dive! This week's topic is covering how to trim a quilt that has been put on point! The overall points are similar to the previous weeks (Part 1: squaring a panel and Part 2: trimming a panel to size), but we always have specific tips and pointers for each and every project for you! 

Let's get to it! 

Spotlight Tool: The Quilters Select 18" Square Ruler

What we we are covering: Trimming a Quilt on Point

Today we will cover how to use the 18" Square Ruler to make a perfectly square quilt top specifically when it was sewn on point. Click here for the full YouTube tutorial video! 

Trimming a Quilt on Point: Setting Up

I love to make projects that are beautiful and perfect-looking (even though they're rarely truly perfect 😉) and then I like to take it another step up and add some extra fun design elements. Putting a quilt top on point is a great way to elevate your project to the pro-level without doing too much extra fancy work. 

Once your quilt top is made, you'll of course need to square it before you quilt everything down. I linked the step-by-step video above, but if you're more of a written-instruction learner, I'm including the written form with photos to guide you along.

The Goal: Prep my on-point quilt top for quilting.

Step 1: Keeping the weight of your quilt top on the table is pertinent to making perfectly straight cuts. I do this by flattening and then rolling or folding the excess fabric up onto my cutting surface. This keeps me from having to fight gravity while I'm cutting.

Step 2: Starting with one of the longer sides of my quilt, I used my Quilters Select 36" Ruler to trim up my quilt top to have a 1/4" edge around all the points of the blocks. (36" ruler tutorials coming soon ;)

I wanted the points of my blocks to line right up to the edge of my binding, so I lined up as many points as I could and cut along the edge at that 1/4" line on my ruler and cut the quilt top. I recommend lining up at least 3 points on any given long cut like this to ensure getting the straightest cut possible. 

I will always love the Quilters Select rulers for this step of quilting. The non-slip coating makes it genuinely so easy and low-effort to make the straightest cuts you've ever made over such long distances. 

I left about 6" of fabric between my cut and the corner of the quilt top, and cut along the edge. I then repeated this process on the shorter sides of my quilt. 

Step 3: I went back to my corners which looked something like this:

Going back to my 18" square ruler, I lined the 1/4" line on the top and right sides of the ruler up with the two points of my block. 

Pro tip: The top edge of the little black numbers on this ruler, is the 1/4" line. 

I mostly use the 1/4" mark at this point to double check my previous cuts. The edges of the ruler should be lining up perfectly with the areas you've already trimmed.

Step 4: Rinse and repeat on the other 3 corners of your quilt top, always keeping the bulk of the quilt top on the cutting table. 

And there you have it folks! A quilt top on point, trimmed and ready to throw on the long-arm! 

Stay tuned for the next chapter of this series: The 36" "Yardstick" Ruler from Quilters Select!