Chances are, you won't always want to quilt in squares or straight rows. Triangles add life to a quilt and are really popular in the modern quilt movement. Plus, you can put two or four triangles together inside a square, or use six to make a hexagon…Happily, there are lots of possibilities for stitching three-cornered motifs on your Dream Fabric Frame
using THE Dream Motion™ Automation Software.

Starting Simple

Open Select & Sew and choose the Triangle tab. You'll see lots of choices; I'm using fern.gpf. Click on the design you choose and then Open. When the

workspace opens, click on the Placement/Fill Method icon to open the dialog box.
Click Triangle and Center.

The motif will appear in the workspace, surrounded by a three-cornered shape. Notice that there are just three buttons for setting the placement points now: a wide button for the apex of the triangle above two narrower buttons for the ends of the baseline.
Click on the three placement points for your triangle and notice how the design is centered within the guidelines.

Now click on the placement icon again, and switch the fill method to Fit. Notice the difference it makes.
Click the placement icon once more and select Stretch for the fill method. You can see how simple it is to get three different looks from a single design.
You can place the apex at the top, bottom, or either side – or anywhere in between – and the design will remain centered in the shape, although it will rotate so that the apex of the triangular design points toward the placement chosen by the wider button. If your design extends outside the safe area, try using a different fill method for your design.

Another Angle

We all know that triangles aren't always equilateral. The apex isn't always neatly centered over the baseline. If you're quilting half-square triangles or half-rectangle triangles, the software will adapt the design to fit the shape you define by positioning the machine over the three corners of your triangle.
You can also create triangular quilting motifs that are short and wide...
...or designs that fit the unique points of a foundation-pieced design.

But Wait, There's More!

I think there's some special triangle magic in the QuiltCAD™ section of Dream Motion Pro. To follow along, select QuiltCAD™ on the opening screen and set up a quilt that's two blocks wide and two blocks high. Select all of the blocks and place the fern motif in each.
Locate and click the Tools>Triangle Blocks on the right edge of the workspace. With all four blocks selected, click the first Diagonal icon.

Magic, right?
Now select just the alternate blocks – you can do it with one click on the checkerboard icon at the lower left corner of the quilt layout. With just two blocks selected, click on the second Diagonal icon.
For the grand finale, select all of the blocks again. This time, click the Criss Cross icon.
I really like this design, and can picture it as a quick pillow top or wall hanging, with or without underlying piecing. When your quilting is this special, it looks great on solid fabric that lets the stitched motifs stand alone. It all started with a simple triangular motif!