Sometimes Crafter

  • Home
  • About
  • Quilting
    • Price + Services
    • Designs
    • Gallery
    • Quilt Prep
    • Quilting Request
  • Blog
    • Tutorials
    • Quilting
    • All Categories
  • Contact
    • Errata
    • FAQ
  • Shop
    • Quilt Patterns
    • Bag Patterns
    • Sewing Patterns
    • My Account
    • Cart
Tutorials

Half Square Triangles

March 17, 2011

This post originally appeared on Whip-Up.net.

   _MG_0754
Hello Whip-Up readers!  It’s so nice to be back in this space posting while Kathreen is away.  Today I wanted to share a really great way of making half square triangles (HST) that I recently found online and give you some measurements to help you with making them just the size you need for your own projects.  Ahead of me I have a quilt full of half square triangles, and I was not looking forward to the prospect of making all of them in the way i’m use to.  Then I remembered having seen this video by The Missouri Star Quilt Company.
HST_Assembly
Her ingenious method of assembling HST for a pinwheel block are perfect for most HST projects I can think of.  You simply take your two squares of fabric (usually a print and a solid), place them right sides together and sew around all four edges with a 1/4″ seam allowance.  Then you cut the square on both diagonals and you end up with four pieces.
_MG_0752
When you open out and iron them you get perfect half square triangles!  It’s amazing every time.  I recently made a bunch of these in different sizes just to get a feel for the math. I have some of the sizes figured out to get you started, but the basic math is a HST that is roughly 64% of the size of your original square.  So your math would be this:
Beginning Square Size x 0.64 = HST size.
If you knew the size you needed your HST to be, but wanted to find out how big to cut your beginning squares, you would use this equation instead:
HST / 0.64 = Beginning Square Size.
Of course it’s always a good idea to make a test square before beginning a project, as all of our sewing and cutting varies.  Not every size is exactly 64%, but it’s a good place to start without getting too involved in the math.  Below is a table that gives you the starting square size and the final HST size for sizes that I’ve actually tested.  You may find as you make these that you can get 1/8″ to 1/4″ more from each size, but I like to play it safe.  So many times when I’ve made HST in the past I find that I don’t have enough to trim away and get the size stated in the pattern, so i’d rather play it safe.  Good luck and have fun creating!
HST_Chart
22 Comments

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comments

  1. Jeni says

    March 17, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    :) I was SO happy this morning to wake up and find it was finally your turn over on whipup! I have really been looking forward to this post and it did not disappoint! Can’t wait to try out this method on my next HST project!

    Reply
  2. Live a Colorful Life says

    March 17, 2011 at 11:02 pm

    My only question is whether you worry about the bias edges? Do these get very stretchy?

    Reply
    • Jane McKay says

      May 4, 2014 at 12:27 pm

      You don’t have to worry about the bias edges if you starch your fabric BEFORE you cut the first squares. This is a terrific method, and I’m so glad to get a chart for different sizes.

      Reply
  3. Little Bluebell (Adrianne) says

    March 17, 2011 at 11:38 pm

    LOVE the size chart! I’m printing that puppy out and laminating it. Now if only it had a cute heart or bunny on it… ; )

    Reply
  4. Poppyprint says

    March 18, 2011 at 2:48 am

    The bias edges can be tricky if you’re making an entire quilt from 1/2 square triangles made this way, but a hit of MaryEllen’s Best Press helps!

    Reply
  5. Christina says

    March 18, 2011 at 3:02 am

    I didn’t notice any difference in working with HSTs made this way vs. other traditional methods. I just finished a quilt with various sized HSTs made this way (300 HST’s in total!) and I had no trouble with bias. I don’t use starch or anything like that either. I think as long as you don’t stretch and pull and make sure to accurately square your blocks before piecing them together you should have no trouble at all!

    Reply
  6. CraftCrave says

    March 18, 2011 at 4:05 am

    Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave today [18 Mar 01:00am GMT]. Thanks, Maria

    Reply
  7. Tiffany says

    March 18, 2011 at 6:33 pm

    Hmmmm …. you know hst’s are the worst for me! I’ll give it a try :)

    Reply
  8. Betty Crocker Ass says

    March 19, 2011 at 4:06 am

    Awesome! Makes want to try them again!

    Reply
  9. Estela says

    March 21, 2011 at 1:11 am

    I just got done cutting a bunch of squares to make triangles for my nephews birthday quilt and this posting would have been great, had I not already started. I’m still WOW’d by it and will definately give it a try on my next one. Thanks again for posting it!

    Reply
  10. Sarah says

    March 21, 2011 at 6:45 pm

    GENIUS! Thank you so much for posting that. It’ll be forever in my ‘favorites’.

    Reply
  11. Liz @ LivingMySweetLife says

    March 22, 2011 at 12:52 pm

    I have been itching to try hsts!! I could never find a tutorial i liked. For such a simple looking block people seem to have so many ways to cut it! I am so excited by this tutorial that I am making some today, Thanks!!

    Reply
  12. DKB says

    March 23, 2011 at 12:59 pm

    can you pls tell me what the linen-y looking solid isin your HST?
    thanks

    Reply
  13. Dear Spring Green says

    March 26, 2011 at 5:05 am

    Yay! That is great- I am going to save that little list and print it out!

    Reply
  14. Lori McKay says

    June 27, 2014 at 12:35 pm

    Thank you for doing the math on this method.

    Reply
  15. Linda Smith says

    March 29, 2017 at 8:53 pm

    Thanks so much for this useful chart! I will be using this method on my next project that calls for HSTs.

    Reply
  16. Becky Collum says

    October 11, 2017 at 6:19 am

    Thanks !!!!

    Reply
  17. Patricia Johnson says

    October 11, 2017 at 8:42 am

    Very informative, since math is not my forte and I’m a beginner quilter. Hopefully this will help me. Thank You very much#

    Reply
  18. Carol says

    October 11, 2017 at 1:45 pm

    Thank you for this info. I have a silly question. What is HAT.
    I do quilt. I have some experience but still learning.

    Reply
    • Christina says

      November 12, 2017 at 6:02 pm

      HST is Half Square Triangle for short. :)

      Reply
  19. Ginny says

    January 18, 2018 at 8:17 am

    Thank you!

    Reply
  20. Carrie Appel says

    January 28, 2018 at 7:50 am

    Thanks for the HS triangle chart. Very helpful

    Reply
Previous Bunny Ornament Tutorial
Next Little Cottage Mug Rug

Related Posts

Drunkard’s Path Block

Sampler Quilt Along

Disappearing 9-Patch

Tutorials

The Interesting Point Quilt

Tutorials
Sometimes Crafter // Square in a Square Block

Square In A Square Block

Sampler Quilt Along

Primary Sidebar

Shop

Binding 101

Categories

  • Books + Mags
  • Embroidery
  • Longarm Quilting
  • Patterns
  • Quilting
  • Sampler Quilt Along
  • Sewing
  • Spaces
  • Tutorials

Never miss a post

Just stopping in for the yearly documenting-of-the Just stopping in for the yearly documenting-of-the-wrinkles. #41
Here we go...2000 is old enough to drink. Going be Here we go...2000 is old enough to drink. Going be a wild year!
2020: The year I turned 40, saw @tiesto live for m 2020: The year I turned 40, saw @tiesto live for my birthday, and then a bunch of other stuff happened that paled in comparison to both of those events. The end. #longlive2020
The yearly photo of my moms birthday "cake". My mo The yearly photo of my moms birthday "cake". My mom requested I make this Swedish Braided bread with apple pie filling for her birthday this year, instead of a cake. It smells delicious and I can't wait to dig in! #birthdaytreat #swedishbraidedbread
It took a ton of coats of glaze, but Brice's ornam It took a ton of coats of glaze, but Brice's ornament for this year is done. I decided to make his ornament this year, and while I set out to make a toilet paper roll ornament, he saw white clay and assumed goose, so I made him Lucy goose. He's quite happy, and so am I. He loves our Lucy goose.
.
I used oven-bake polymer clay (Michael's brand was what I had on hand), acrylic paint (just the craft variety...again, what I already had on hand), and a glossy glaze (Sculpey, which I don't recommend, its gotten very thin since I last used it, it took way too many coats to be the right thickness). The ornament is about 1.5"h x 1.5"w x 0.5"deep. It was really easy to make, so don't say you can't do it. You can. 
.
#goose #chinesegoose #lucyandherducklings #ornament #handmadeornaments #gooseornament #clayornaments #polymerclay #messwiththehonkyougetthebonk
Irish soda bread seemed like a holiday kind of bre Irish soda bread seemed like a holiday kind of bread to make, especially since it has currents, cranberries and sultanas inside! I don't think I've made one since I was about Brice's age! Its been too long. #holidaybread #irishsodabread
Taking advantage of my end of year time off from q Taking advantage of my end of year time off from quilting to do a little crafting. I made an ornament for Brice (which I'll share later when it's finished), and then painted these cute little canvases while my paint was out yesterday. You can see individual photos of each of them over on my other account  @christinalanecreates (grouped with the photo like this).
It gets so dark here this time of year, by afterno It gets so dark here this time of year, by afternoon I've lost all light for photos! This is another quilt quilted for @jenny.l.barrett I felt Sashy was the right amount of modern and traditional for this quilt top. I was having a hard time picking a design for this but kept coming back to this. It's a go-to design for me and I always love it on everything. I think it ended up being pretty perfect for this. #sometimescrafterlongarmquilting
Copyright © 2021 Sometimes Crafter
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
Theme by SheShoppes