The Creator of CATS

About The Creator, Shirley Gendreizig

When doing the same thing over and over thousands of times, you get plenty of time to think about how well the task is going. Shirley diligently marked a grid, trying to compute how thick her pencil lines were, so that she could achieve perfect accuracy. Even though her grids became beautiful to behold, by the time she sewed quarter-inch seams, the fabric would distort slightly with the first stitching. When fully stitched, she could not use a straight edge to cut the half-square triangles apart! She would have to carefully cut them apart with scissors. Even then, they were not all that accurate (so frustrating!). She tried to construct one feathered star block per day, but frustration increased. She literally had a brainstorm when she tried to fall asleep one night. "The grid has to relate to the bias seam perfectly," she thought.

The Birth of CATS

What makes the perfect half-square triangle? It must be two perfect triangles already sewn together! If a person could cut against a perfectly sized triangular template next to the seam, it could be much more accurate! Shirley kept cutting into her flimsy template, and finally had a local machine shop bring her brainstormed idea into a reality. Lo and behold, her unique concept...the CATS template...made her feathered star points so quickly and accurately, that she began making two blocks a day! She wondered why no one had thought of this solution before.

It's a tactile feeling akin to locking seams. When using the template, you'll know when it's next to the seam just like you know when your seams are locked and ready to sew. Therefore, it takes the stress out of making half-square triangles, because the accuracy is all in the template cutting! No more need for extreme accuracy in marking or sewing! So, relax and go for speed!

Please take a moment to look through my site. We've tried to provide you with enough information and even a step-by-step demonstration to show you exactly how to use this technique. It will help you create triangle squares quickly and accurately!