Half Square Triangles

Half square triangles are used in A LOT of quilt block designs. There are several ways to make them. You can make them 1, 2, 4 and 8 at a time! In this tutorial I will be showing you how to make 2 at a time. I feel this method gives you the best and most accurate results.

I will also have a chart with commonly used sizes to make this a one stop shop for all your half square triangle needs.

The design possibilities are almost endless. With color, pattern and HST placement you can create really neat effects and the look of movement in your work.

To shortened things up a bit I will refer to half square triangles as HST.

Making Half Square Triangles:

The slide show below shows you how to make 2 HST’s at one time.

This was my go to method when I was making HST in various sizes. However, I have since found an even easier method: Die Cutting Machines.

The die cutter cuts perfect HST pieces. They even have the little “dog ears” already trimmed, which not only saves time but actually makes lining up the pieces easier.

The quilt I made below I used a 2 1/2″ HST die. It yielded finished 2″ squares. If you are counting you will see that I have a total of 144 HST (which means 288 individual pieces)!

If I used the 2 at a time method, I would have had to cut 144 squares plus trim them! With the die cutter, it was effortless and took soo much less time.

There are different die cutting machines out there. My favorite is the Crafter’s Edge HST die with the dog ears trimmed. This is a great set, in that it gives you multiple sizes to choose from in one complete package. I have used other brands and while they also work great, you have to purchase the different sizes separately.

However, sometimes die sets do not have all the sizes you need so below you will find a chart with various HST sizing’s. This chart is for making HST 2 at a time.

The Mathematics Shortcut

You can easily calculate what your starting size should be by adding 7/8″ to the FINISHED size you want. The fraction 7/8 translates to 0.875. However, to make things a little easier, and if you are like me and are not perfect, I have also rounded up in the chart below to allow trimming.

Happy Sewing!

Starting to bloom by choosing JOY ~Julia