How to Use the Creative Grids Perfect Rectangle Ruler

Published August 2026

Join Jen as she shows you how to use the Creative Grids Perfect Rectangle Ruler. The Any 12 Will Do pattern uses rectangles to frame 12-inch quilt blocks, creating a sophisticated, rounded illusion without curves. This tutorial is perfect for quilters looking to expand their block design possibilities and create stunning projects.

In this video, you'll learn:

• How to precisely cut two-piece rectangles using the CGR Perfect Rectangle Ruler.
• Techniques for stabilizing bias edges when working with angled cuts.
• Instructions for constructing the "Any 12 Inch Block Will Do" runner, including the Variable Star block.

Check the links for everything you need.

Introduction

Here's a tool that does something you may not have thought to ask for: a two-piece rectangle, cut on an angle, that frames a 12" block and gives it the look of a gentle curve. There are no curves anywhere in this runner — it's entirely an illusion created by the geometry — and the effect is lovely.

The Perfect Rectangle Ruler makes rectangles from 1" all the way up to 9" finished, so one tool covers a wide range of projects. Used as a frame, it grows a 12" block into an impressive 18" block, which makes it a wonderful way to get a generous quilt out of blocks you already love.

The runner shown here uses Merry Manor Metallic by Moda — Christmas fabrics with gold metallic details that lift the whole thing to an elegant level. The pattern is the Any 12 Will Do Runner by Cut Loose Press, and Shabby Fabrics has added supplemental instructions to make the block more beginner-friendly. The runner is made from three blocks.

Use the Shabby cutting instructions rather than the ones printed in the Cut Loose pattern. The fabric selections here are different from the ones in the original pattern, so the Shabby instructions show photos of each fabric alongside its cutting size — no guessing about which fabric is which.

What You'll Need

• Creative Grids Perfect Rectangle Ruler (required for this project)
• Creative Grids 4.5" square-up ruler for trimming the hourglass units
• Rotating cutting mat. The trimming steps are far easier with one! Jen is using the Creative Grids rotating mat.
• Rotary cutter with a sharp blade
• Patchwork pins
• Seam guide. The Creative Grids seam guide is our choice for this project.
• Iron and pressing surface
• Fabrics per the Shabby cutting instructions

Part 1: Making Two-Piece Rectangles with the Tool

Step 1 – Determine your strip width

The rule printed on the tool: take the finished size of your rectangle and add .5" for seam allowance. That number is the width to cut your strips.

The tool's own example uses a 4" x 8" finished rectangle, which calls for strips cut 8.5" wide.

For this runner, the rectangles finish at 6", so the strips are cut 6.5" wide. You'll need two 6.5" x width-of-fabric strips of the cream and two of the red.

Add plenty of sizing before you press your fabric. Every one of these cuts is on an angle, which means every edge you sew is a bias edge — and bias has stretch in it. Sizing gives the fabric more body and helps it hold its shape while you work. It's the easiest stabilizing you'll ever do, and it pays off in flat, accurate rectangles.

Step 2 – Layer your strips

1. Place your two contrasting strips right sides together, bringing the selvages together.
2. Keep the fabric folded in half. You'll be cutting through four layers at once, and that's on purpose — it gives you a left and a right of each fabric, which is exactly what the two-piece rectangle needs.
3. Trim the selvage away first. The Perfect Rectangle Ruler makes a fine straight edge for this, so there's no need to reach for another tool.

The selvage is worth keeping if you enjoy that sort of thing — there are some wonderful selvage quilts out there, and all that printed color and text makes for a fun memory piece.

Step 3 – Cut your angled pieces

1. Lay the tool on your strip set, lined up along the cut edge, with your strip width mark (6.5" here) sitting right on the fabric edge.
2. Press down — the non-slip grip on the back locks the tool to your mat, so nothing shifts while you cut.
3. Make your cut, then move the cut pieces out of the way before you set up the next one.
4. Flip the tool around, line it up along the edge again at your strip width, and cut.
5. Keep alternating — flip, align, cut, clear — all the way down the strip. Repeat for your second strip set.

That little notch at the top of the tool is the star of the show. It's cut into the acrylic on purpose, and it's what lets you line the cream up to the red perfectly when you sew. Creative Grids thought that one through.

Step 4 – Sew the pairs together

1. Place a left and a right piece right sides together, using the notches to align them. When the notches match, you're positioned correctly.
2. Pin at both ends and in the middle. Good pinning is your other bias-stabilizer, alongside the sizing.
3. Sew a ¼" seam.

A seam guide keeps you honest here. These are bias edges and an accurate quarter inch matters more than usual — a seam guide is a small thing that keeps everything true.

You can pin from the back as well if you prefer. The trade-off is that the pinhead sometimes catches or keeps the piece from lying flat, so pinning from the front is the more comfortable choice for most people.

Step 5 – Press for interlocking seams

Half of your rectangles will have one orientation, half will have the opposite. That's what creates the frame effect — and it's also what lets the seams interlock when you join them.

1. Sort your sewn rectangles into two stacks by orientation.
2. Press one stack toward the red.
3. Press the other stack toward the cream.

Establish it however makes sense to you — for example, "red on the bottom right gets pressed toward the red" — and stay consistent.

That little jog at the corner is normal. When you look at a finished two-piece rectangle, you'll see a small notch where you might expect a clean point. Picture the fabric that got cut away still attached and it makes sense — that piece would fill right into the corner. The diagram in the instructions shows a tidied-up version without it, so seeing the jog on your own block is exactly right.

Step 6 – Join rectangles into frame units

1. Place two rectangles right sides together. Because of the way you pressed, the seams will interlock and track right along each other.
2. Pin and sew.
3. Press this seam open to distribute the bulk evenly.

Each joined unit becomes one side of the frame. Make four, and you've framed your block on all four sides.

Part 2: Building the Block

The featured block is a variable star, and the Shabby instructions take a route that's friendlier for beginners and reduces bias stretch along the way. The corner and side units are hourglass blocks, and those start life as half-square triangles.

Step 1 – Make your half-square triangles

You'll make two pairs of half-square triangles from two different fabric combinations. Cutting sizes are in your instructions.

1. Place two fabrics right sides together.
2. On the wrong side of the lighter fabric, draw two lines — a quarter inch on either side of the diagonal. A seam guide tool makes quick work of this.
3. Pin, then sew directly on both drawn lines.
4. Cut apart corner to corner, right down the middle between your two seams.
5. Press following the arrows in your instructions.

Each pair gives you two half-square triangles.

Sewing on a drawn line is easier to keep accurate than eyeballing a quarter inch off one. Drawing a single diagonal and stitching a quarter inch to either side works perfectly well too — this is simply the method that's become the house favorite, sewing team included.

Repeat with your second fabric combination so you have four half-square triangles total.

Step 2 – Turn them into hourglass units

1. Take one half-square triangle from each pair and audition the pairing — you want them oriented as opposites, with the seams running in opposite directions so they'll nest.
2. Place them right sides together.
3. Draw your lines a quarter inch either side of the diagonal (or use your seam guide) and sew on both lines.
4. Cut corner to corner between the seams.
5. Press this seam open. A pressing bar is handy here if you have one.

Step 3 – Trim the hourglass units to 4.5"

These come out oversized on purpose, which gives you the chance to square them up perfectly.

1. Set your 4.5" square-up ruler over the unit with the little bullseye at the center of your ruler sitting right on the point where all four seams meet.
2. Line the ruler's diagonal up along your seam allowance — when the ruler lines are tracking right along the seams, you know you're in the right position.
3. Trim.

Let the mat do the turning. A spinning mat lets you trim all four sides without ever picking up the block, which keeps your accuracy intact and your cuts controlled. It's the way to square up a block every time — safe and precise, and easier on your hands.

Step 4 – Lay out and assemble the block

1. Lay out your hourglass units, corner pieces, and center so you can see the whole block.
2. Sew the top row, the middle row, and the bottom row, pressing rows in opposite directions. The middle row presses toward the center.
3. Join the rows.
4. Press the joining seams open.

Pin for the points, not just the ends. Rather than pinning left to right and hoping, start by pinning right where the points need to meet — from the back, so you can see exactly where the seams land. Then add your pins at the corners. Being deliberate about those few pins is what gets your points hitting cleanly.

Step 5 – Add the rectangle frame

1. Add a frame unit to two opposite sides of the block.
2. For the remaining two sides, add a corner square to each end of the frame unit, then attach the whole thing as one row.

You'll finish with an 18" block — a 12" block grown by six inches, with that soft circular illusion running around the outside.

Make three blocks for the runner.

Finishing

Assemble the three blocks into the runner and finish it following your pattern instructions.

Quick Reference

The two-piece rectangle is a small idea that transforms a block — it adds geometry, sophistication, and real size, and it isn't complicated to do. It's a lovely way to take a block you like and give it a setting worthy of it.

Kits, the Perfect Rectangle Ruler, and the 4.5" square-up ruler are available on the Shabby Fabrics website. Note that the Merry Manor Metallic fabrics have already been discontinued by Moda, so kits are limited.