Hello!
Just posting a photo heavy tutorial as I'm currently making a patchwork gift basket for Christmas and it's very heavy on Half Square Triangles (HSTs). They are very commonly used in quilting, so once you've learnt to make some, you can do a lot of quilts!
To start with, chose the two fabrics you want and cut them to the size you need. Your instructions will tell you what size usually. If you're going your own way and making a quilt from scratch without a pattern then you can use online HST reference/cheat sheets or do the maths yourself to end up with the correct size.
**Pro tip! Spray starch your fabrics at this point. HSTs are cut and sewn on the bias which can make fabric stretch. To limit this, spray starch and iron them. The fabric will become much more rigid, easier to handle and less likely to stretch out of place, so you'll be more accurate and get a neater finish. The starch just washes out when you wash the item at the end.
If you're working with small pieces, you could draw them all out on one piece of fabric first, then spray starch the entire thing to make cutting easier too. Ironing lots of really small bits gets tiresome...
Turn the fabrics over, and draw a line going diagonally across the back. The back of your fabric is usually much paler (compare to the photo above). Sometimes fabrics are not that different from one side to the other. Have a good look and pick a side anyway. To make it easier on yourself, make a small mark within the seam allowance so you'll always be able to orientate yourself.
Once you have your chosen fabrics. Layer the two together, with the right sides together. Make sure the lines go in the same direction on both sides (i.e both go upwards from left to right). Either pin or clip the two together.
I've used wonder clips this time as it tends to keep the fabric flatter and saves time. [I bought 50 off eBay for £3.65.] If you're using pins you can pin so the pin sticks outwards (perpendicular) rather than going along the edges (parallel) to keep it flat.
Put your fabric square under your presser foot and line up to the left of the diagonal line.
I'm using a quilting 1/4 inch seam allowance foot, so you can see it's a bit different to a standard foot. The guide on the right hand side is 1/4 inch away from the needle, so that the seam allowance will always be accurate when the fabric is lined up with the guide. This is designed to have the fabric's cut edge against the foot, but I find it helpful for HSTs too.
Sew 1/4 inch to the left of the diagonal line. I usually use my preset straight stitch width of 0 and stitch length of 2.2mm, with the needle in the normal central position.
***Pro tip! Quilting HSTs lend themselves well to batch sewing. Once you've sewn a square, raise the needle and presser foot and move the square a little further from the needle to give yourself a small tail. Don't cut the threads. Just put the next square down, and sew that one. Repeat for each square.
These squares are all attached to each other still.
Now we need to turn them around and stitch along the diagonal line again - this time on the side you haven't yet sewn. When we're done, there will be two lines of stitching (1/2 inch apart) with your line drawn in between.
[Yep, I didn't check the lines were in the same direction on the top square. You can see the lines are quartering the square into 4 triangles instead of two. The fabric was dark enough the line didn't show through, otherwise I would have had to unpick.]
Once all of your squares have been sewn diagonally for the second time, it's time to cut them. Place them on a cutting mat, use a quilting ruler to line up with the line you have drawn and cut. Always push a rotary cutter away from you and put the safety back on each time you put the cutter down.
***Pro tip! If you use a 28 mm blade, you can cut sitting down. The larger 45 mm blades are much bigger and will require standing up in order to safely apply enough pressure to cut through the layers.
If you use scissors instead, use the longest blades possible and use the full length of the blades when possible. This will cut more fabric, reducing jagged edges from moving the scissors along the line. I won't lecture on using fabric scissors only on fabric.... :D
Cut out all of your squares in a batch. Or if you're short on time then do some in small groups when you can. Once you're all done, then it's time for pressing.
Open up the fabrics, to reveal your square made of two triangles! Half square triangles...
The way you fold open the triangles will make a big difference. Always fold to the dark side - remember Star Wars! On this example, you can see in the above photo that the seam allowance is folded to the right (the lighter fabric).
The seam allowance will almost always show up under the light fabric (which is more visible against light).
By folding the seam allowance to the dark side instead...
[Apologies for not keeping the square the same way around as in the above photo!]
Then the seam allowance is a lot less visible and will give a much neater result.
***Pro tip! Spray starched fabrics can usually be 'finger folded' quite easily. By folding the seam allowance over and pressing with your fingers, this can sometimes be enough and eliminate needing to iron the squares. However pressing is the best option.
Once all your seam allowances are folded to the dark side, give the squares a press under an iron. Another batch process! Check first on scrap fabric to make sure the temperature is suitable. If you fabric contains polyester, it will almost always shrink if the iron gets too hot for it. Experiment!
***Pro tip! If you're struggling with having two light or similar coloured fabrics, try it both ways and see which once you prefer.
Now it's time to true up your squares! You need a quilting ruler for this part.
Place your square back on your cutting mat. Quilting rulers will always have 30, 45 and 60 degree lines printed on them. We need to use the 45 degree line, as our HSTs are sewn along the 45 degree diagonal line.
Line up the 45 degree line with the seam between the two fabrics. Cut them down to the size stated in your pattern. This will make the edges nice and neat again (which really helps with overall finish).
To get the most accurate results, ensure your ruler is exactly on the edge of the fabric rather than 1mm in. I learnt the hard way that those 1mm's are enough to throw the entire thing off and stop your points from matching up by the time you finish your quilt!
I bought this clever 4-in-1 quilting board, from Hobbycraft. The grey left hand side is sandpaper, which fabrics stick to and is useful for drawing lines. The black side is a slightly stickier fabric which you can stick your fabric pieces to once cut out. Once flipped over, there is a cutting mat built so that you can cut directly onto the board.
To finish off, you can close or fully open out the board and lie it flat to press on!
Have fun with the HSTs, hope this made sense.
Just posting a photo heavy tutorial as I'm currently making a patchwork gift basket for Christmas and it's very heavy on Half Square Triangles (HSTs). They are very commonly used in quilting, so once you've learnt to make some, you can do a lot of quilts!
To start with, chose the two fabrics you want and cut them to the size you need. Your instructions will tell you what size usually. If you're going your own way and making a quilt from scratch without a pattern then you can use online HST reference/cheat sheets or do the maths yourself to end up with the correct size.
**Pro tip! Spray starch your fabrics at this point. HSTs are cut and sewn on the bias which can make fabric stretch. To limit this, spray starch and iron them. The fabric will become much more rigid, easier to handle and less likely to stretch out of place, so you'll be more accurate and get a neater finish. The starch just washes out when you wash the item at the end.
If you're working with small pieces, you could draw them all out on one piece of fabric first, then spray starch the entire thing to make cutting easier too. Ironing lots of really small bits gets tiresome...
Turn the fabrics over, and draw a line going diagonally across the back. The back of your fabric is usually much paler (compare to the photo above). Sometimes fabrics are not that different from one side to the other. Have a good look and pick a side anyway. To make it easier on yourself, make a small mark within the seam allowance so you'll always be able to orientate yourself.
Once you have your chosen fabrics. Layer the two together, with the right sides together. Make sure the lines go in the same direction on both sides (i.e both go upwards from left to right). Either pin or clip the two together.
I've used wonder clips this time as it tends to keep the fabric flatter and saves time. [I bought 50 off eBay for £3.65.] If you're using pins you can pin so the pin sticks outwards (perpendicular) rather than going along the edges (parallel) to keep it flat.
Put your fabric square under your presser foot and line up to the left of the diagonal line.
I'm using a quilting 1/4 inch seam allowance foot, so you can see it's a bit different to a standard foot. The guide on the right hand side is 1/4 inch away from the needle, so that the seam allowance will always be accurate when the fabric is lined up with the guide. This is designed to have the fabric's cut edge against the foot, but I find it helpful for HSTs too.
Sew 1/4 inch to the left of the diagonal line. I usually use my preset straight stitch width of 0 and stitch length of 2.2mm, with the needle in the normal central position.
***Pro tip! Quilting HSTs lend themselves well to batch sewing. Once you've sewn a square, raise the needle and presser foot and move the square a little further from the needle to give yourself a small tail. Don't cut the threads. Just put the next square down, and sew that one. Repeat for each square.
These squares are all attached to each other still.
Now we need to turn them around and stitch along the diagonal line again - this time on the side you haven't yet sewn. When we're done, there will be two lines of stitching (1/2 inch apart) with your line drawn in between.
[Yep, I didn't check the lines were in the same direction on the top square. You can see the lines are quartering the square into 4 triangles instead of two. The fabric was dark enough the line didn't show through, otherwise I would have had to unpick.]
Once all of your squares have been sewn diagonally for the second time, it's time to cut them. Place them on a cutting mat, use a quilting ruler to line up with the line you have drawn and cut. Always push a rotary cutter away from you and put the safety back on each time you put the cutter down.
***Pro tip! If you use a 28 mm blade, you can cut sitting down. The larger 45 mm blades are much bigger and will require standing up in order to safely apply enough pressure to cut through the layers.
If you use scissors instead, use the longest blades possible and use the full length of the blades when possible. This will cut more fabric, reducing jagged edges from moving the scissors along the line. I won't lecture on using fabric scissors only on fabric.... :D
Cut out all of your squares in a batch. Or if you're short on time then do some in small groups when you can. Once you're all done, then it's time for pressing.
Open up the fabrics, to reveal your square made of two triangles! Half square triangles...
The way you fold open the triangles will make a big difference. Always fold to the dark side - remember Star Wars! On this example, you can see in the above photo that the seam allowance is folded to the right (the lighter fabric).
The seam allowance will almost always show up under the light fabric (which is more visible against light).
By folding the seam allowance to the dark side instead...
[Apologies for not keeping the square the same way around as in the above photo!]
Then the seam allowance is a lot less visible and will give a much neater result.
***Pro tip! Spray starched fabrics can usually be 'finger folded' quite easily. By folding the seam allowance over and pressing with your fingers, this can sometimes be enough and eliminate needing to iron the squares. However pressing is the best option.
Once all your seam allowances are folded to the dark side, give the squares a press under an iron. Another batch process! Check first on scrap fabric to make sure the temperature is suitable. If you fabric contains polyester, it will almost always shrink if the iron gets too hot for it. Experiment!
***Pro tip! If you're struggling with having two light or similar coloured fabrics, try it both ways and see which once you prefer.
Now it's time to true up your squares! You need a quilting ruler for this part.
Place your square back on your cutting mat. Quilting rulers will always have 30, 45 and 60 degree lines printed on them. We need to use the 45 degree line, as our HSTs are sewn along the 45 degree diagonal line.
Line up the 45 degree line with the seam between the two fabrics. Cut them down to the size stated in your pattern. This will make the edges nice and neat again (which really helps with overall finish).
To get the most accurate results, ensure your ruler is exactly on the edge of the fabric rather than 1mm in. I learnt the hard way that those 1mm's are enough to throw the entire thing off and stop your points from matching up by the time you finish your quilt!
I bought this clever 4-in-1 quilting board, from Hobbycraft. The grey left hand side is sandpaper, which fabrics stick to and is useful for drawing lines. The black side is a slightly stickier fabric which you can stick your fabric pieces to once cut out. Once flipped over, there is a cutting mat built so that you can cut directly onto the board.
To finish off, you can close or fully open out the board and lie it flat to press on!
Have fun with the HSTs, hope this made sense.
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