Sometimes, the best ideas are right in your own backyard. The Whirlwind Whiz is one of those bright ideas! It is the brain child of Nancy Wilson of Nancy’s Quilt Designs.
Nancy took up quilting seven years ago. Quilting was a perfect way for her to combine her passion for creating art and engineering skills (she has a degree in Chemical Engineering).
One day while making quarter square triangles for a whirlwind block, Nancy’s engineer brain decided there had to be a better way. The traditional method of making quarter square triangles is to cut your squares, slice them into triangles, and then sew your triangles together. See the diagram below.
Traditional method for making quarter square triangles
What if you no longer had to cut square into 4 triangles and then sew them into pairs? There must be a better way. And there was! Thus the Whirlwind Whiz was born! This new tool let’s you make four identical quarter square triangle pairs by sewing 2 squares together and then doing the cutting.
The Whirlwind Whiz Tool
We caught wind of this nifty little tool when we saw it mentioned in a newsletter from a local quilt shop, Amelia’s Fabric & Yarn Shoppe. A few phone calls later and we have a new product to offer you!
How does the tool work? Check out the short video as Nancy demonstrates it.
By cutting out 2 squares, marking them with the Whirlwind Whiz, then sewing and cutting, you end up with four matching triangle pairs!
Four identical quarter square triangles from the Whirlwind Whiz
We are currently offering two patterns that use the Whirlwind Whiz. This is the Cosmic Commotion Wall Hanging. It could easily be scaled up to make a larger quilt.
Cosmic Commotion Wall Hanging Pattern
The second pattern is Whirlwind of Fall. It looks complicated, but it’s not!
Whirlwind of Fall Center Piece Pattern
More patterns are sure to be forthcoming. You can also use the tool for any patterns you already own that use quarter square triangles. Of course, the Whirlwind Wiz tool and the patterns are all available from QuiltWoman.com! Happy Sewing!
This looks great- Is there comprhesive instruction for sizing the quarter squares for various projects? What about mirror image quarter squares rather than identical? Thanks- Chris Campbell
Chris .. Thank you for your interest in my tool! These are great questions.
The beauty of the Whirlwind Whiz is you don’t have to adjust the size of the squares from what is listed in a quilt pattern. As a example, if a pattern calls for cutting 4″ squares of purple and yellow diagonally twice to get 4 triangles from each square, stop right there. Don’t cut the squares. Instead simply place the 4″ squares right side together and use the Whirlwind Whiz to make the identical quarter square triangle pairs.
You can use the Whirlwind Whiz to make mirror image quarter squares triangles as well. Instead of following the dashed lines on the template, use the Whirlwind Whiz to draw 2 lines diagonally across the square between 2 corners. Sew on these 2 lines. Cut the squares diagonally twice. One of the diagonal cuts will be between the 2 sewn lines. Open up the 4 triangle pairs and you will have 2 identical and 2 mirror image quarter square triangle pairs. I will add these instructions with diagrams to my website. http://www.nancysquiltdesigns.com
Please let me know if you need more detail or have more questions.
Happy Quilting!
Nancy Wilson