HST – Half Square Triangle Quilt Tutorial

HST – Half Square Triangle Quilt – the one I always wanted to make and never started. This easy pattern is ideal for practicing precise cutting, piecing and pressing. Since I was working with the wonderful batiks on my last project and liked them very much,  I decided to carry on with the same fabrics. They are so colourful and warm.

Quilt size : 42″ x 48 “

Distribution : 16 rows with each 14 HST blocks, all together 224 HST blocks.  I have decided to work with 4″ strips. After piecing and trimming the blocks have a size of 3,5″ x 3,5″.

Material :

Solid fabric : 1 1/2 yard from colour of your choice; cut in 4″ strips and then in 4″ x 4″ squares

Colour fabrics : all together 1 1/2 yard or 13 different colours; cut in 4″ strips and then in 4″ x 4″ squares

Backing fabric : 1 1/2 yard

Batting : 43″ x 50 ”

Binding : 3/8 yard, cut 5 strips each 2,5″

Assembly :

1. Prepare all pieces by cutting into squares

2. Draw a diagonal line on the left side of the solid fabric, pin together with a batik one

3. Sew all squares along the drawn line with a 1/4″ seam allowance (normally width of the presser foot) using the chain piece method.

4. Complete the piecing by sewing along the other side of the line.

5. Now cut the squares diagonal along the drawn line in

6. Press seams open

7. Trim the squares to 3,5″ x 3,5″

8. You are ready to work on the layout. Using a design wall you can distribute the colour squares according your imagination – see below

I have decided to subdivide the quilt into several sewing batches. Taking always 4 rows with 7 squares. First I sew each row together, then the rows and as last the batches.

Here the rows are pressed a ready for pinning :

Accurate pinning is the secret to a nice and tidy quilt top. So take time, don’t hurry and work on your skills :

Once more : I pressed all seams open

And this is the finished top :

Prepare a sandwich and quilt as you want. After a lot of straight line quilting I decided to go for free-motion quilting. Trim the quilt and add binding. My favorite machine binding tutorial.

The quilt is listed on Etsy and Dawanda S O L D ! !