Tutorial – How to Draw a Pattern for a Steeple
The Circle and Chord Method
I’ve been struggling with drawing patterns for steeples ever since I started making little houses. I basically made them by drawing a triangle the size I want and then tracing 3 copies to make the pattern. I knew I had to figure out a way using geometry and finally, I did. I can’t believe it is this easy. Once you see the process you’ll see that you can make a steeple with many sides easily.
But first you need a specific tool – a compass.
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| The compass – our special tool for drawing a steeple pattern |
Directions:
1. Determine the size of your triangle for the steeple. For the purposes of this tutorial, the width will be 1 inch and each side of the triangle will be 2 inches. That’s not the height of the triangle because each 2 inch side is slanted. The height of the triangle is just a smidge under 2 inches (I confess, I didn’t measure it.)
2. Set your compass to 2 inches.
3. Draw a circle on the graph paper with a radius of 2 inches. I knew I didn’t need an entire circle because of the size of my steeple so I only drew a portion of the circle. You can barely see the little hole that the compass made in the center of the circle and how the circle intersects 2 inches when the lines are perpendicular.
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| Draw a circle with a 2 inch radius. |
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| Mark one inch segments on the circle you’ve drawn. |
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| Circle marked with one inch chords which will form the base of your triangles. |
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| Cut out the Steeple pattern. Try to remember to score it before you cut it out. It is so much easier if you do this. |
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| The steeple pattern cut out and taped together. I am so happy I know how to do this now. |
What do you think? Will this help you when you make steeple for little houses or little churches? I certainly hope so. It has already made my life a little easier in making the top to the tower on the Wilkins House prototype. Here’s the steeple roof on the Wilkins House.
Now I’m going steeple crazy. It’s going to be so much fun.
Ya’ll take care.
Lucy
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Sara Barker says
Great tutorial, Lucy! Thank you for sharing it with us! Can't wait to see your finished steeples this year! Happy New Year!
Laney says
Thanks Lucy – this is great and will be so helpful!
Susan says
Should there be tabs left at the bottom of the sides to use to attach the steeple to the roof top?
Lucy says
You could put tabs at the bottom, but I don't usually do that because often the steeple hangs over the edge of the tower and you can sort of wedge it over the top of the tower. On the Wilkins House the steeple actually sits on a flat base so there is a decent amount of gluing surface. But you can always choose to do tabs to provide a larger area for glue. I hadn't thought of that idea. Good question.
Lucy says
Thank you, Sara. Your architect husband would laugh at this low tech solution, but it works. My brother told me yesterday that my creative work is analog as opposed to digital in this day and age.
Lucy says
Thank you for reading Laney. I am glad you think it will be helpful. I always enjoy seeing your projects.