Here are the last 3 blocks in my quilt guild's Block of the Month. These blocks make up the bottom row of the pattern, Jeni Baker's Half Square Triangle Sampler: Now I need to choose a background. I wanted to go with a colored fabric, rather than the white as shown in the pattern, and I thought I had found the perfect green: I put the first 9 blocks against the green background and lived with it for a while as I made the last 3 blocks. I began to think that although the green was a perfect match, it was overpowering the blocks. These blocks are only 6 inches, so the background has a bigger impact. I went back to the drawing board and found a lighter, less saturated green and tried again: It's a subtle difference, but I think the second choice helps the blocks stand out a little more. Here are the two fabrics side by side: And here are the 12 finished blocks, with the darker green background under the top 6 and the lighter green background under the bottom 6: This has been a lot of fun seeing how much variety can be achieved with just 16 Half Square Triangle blocks.
Inspired by a quilt that my friend Mary shared with me from Pinterest, I decided to design an Ombré HST quilt mathematically. This was the result. I chose to use a gradient of eight different values,
Check out these 10 great half square triangle quilt layouts for beginner quilters! There is also a tutorial for making the hst units.
Our Half Square Triangle (HST) Challenge is concluding at the February 20th meeting. Members accepting this challenge were asked to create a quilt using any design, pattern or layout they choose ju…
HST quilt block possibilities - Picmia
Half Square Triangle Quilts are simple but they don't have to be boring! Here are 8 ways (plus variations) to turn your HSTs into quilts!
Learn how to make a simple modern baby quilt. This Herringbone baby quilt tutorial features a quick piece 8 at a time HST method.
Isn't this GREAT??? My sister, Carla, sewed all these blocks while I did most of the grunt work of trimming and pressing. This all took place at a sister's quilt retreat (just my sis and me) in the mountains of northern Idaho. It was such a WONDERFUL time. We got up whenever we felt like it, got dressed whenever we felt like it, (or not) and left the house whenever we felt like it. Here is one of our little side trips . . . Beautiful scenery . . . Amazing antiques . . . Cute outdoor eating places, this one for breakfast and a great little Italian place for dinner! But MOSTLY lots and lots of sewing! Yes, I did work on my own project as well but I couldn't stay focused on it. I was working on adding solids to my crumb blocks that I made with vintage fabrics. Here is how far I got on that. What I really wanted to do was see how far we could get with Carla's quilt! By the end of our stay, we had sewn and placed all 360 blocks and she got 1/2 the rows sewn to each other. 10 to go! I have some tips about making one of these that we learned along the way. FIRST tip is definitely do not make your HST's (half square triangles) one at a time. Use a tutorial that allows you to create 8 HST's at once. Carla's squares measure 5 inches trimmed and using the 8 at a time method, you start with 11 inch squares to make the 8 HST's. These are the two reasons why I say use the 8 at a time method. 1. It takes forever making HST's one at a time! This will cut down your block making time. 2. Making them in groups of 8 helps out in the design layout immensely. I'll explain that in a bit. I wrote a tutorial on the 8 at a time method here. I included the math on how to figure out different sizes. It has saved me oodles of time. Note: After you do the math to figure what size squares to start with, you may find that you can reduce the size a little bit to prevent waste from the trimming. But it's definitely better to have HST's slightly too big and trim than not big enough. TIP #2 Even colors that you normally wouldn't put together will look great in a quilt like this as long as you make sure the HST's are high contrast. Here is a perfect example. I think the pink floral is cute but the combo with this weird checker zig zag is icky to my eyes. In this case, the colors don't matter so much as the fact that they are definitely high contrast of dark and light. When you step back and look at the entire quilt, you no longer see the individual fabrics but rather the pattern created by the arrangement of the darks and lights. Can you see the ugly blocks? If you look hard you can find them, but they don't stick out like you think they might. TIP #3 If you make your HST's in groups of four or eight, start in the middle and design your way outward. You can create just a little bit of order in the what appears to be a chaos by putting the same squares in each quarter of the quilt. In fact, in a few cases, we deliberately used the same dark fabric paired with various lights to create a definite line. You can see this with the 12 black background floral triangles near the middle and again with those same black background HST's a little further out ward with four of each on each side of the design. There was a lot more thought that went into the layout of this quilt than it seems. I know it looks random, but it isn't. If you study it, you can begin to see what decisions were made. Each quarter of the quilt are repeats of the other quarters or as close as we could get. So that is why it helps to make your HST's in groups of four or eight. Hope my tips gave you something to consider and maybe you'll try your own HST quilt someday! Linking to: Quilting is More Fun Than Housework So Scrappy Em's Scrap Bag What I Made Monday
I'm finally getting around to blogging about a special surprise quilt that I made over the holidays! For the past several years, my mom's husband has been dealing with declining kidney function. The doctors had been keeping an eye on it for some time, but unfortunately there isn't much tha
HST (or Half Square Triangle) quilt blocks can be one of the most versatile block designs we have as quilters. With a simple turn of the block, or change of color, your block can go from look…
Free PDF Pattern is now available for download. Click here! I have had this quilt in the works for a few months and finally got to quilt it this week. When I loaded it on my machine I was planning on doing a panto but it kept nagging at me that it deserved some custom work so I gave in! :) Large pebbles and swirls it was! I had made the blocks at a guild UFO day and had a few guild members help me decide on the finally layout as there are so many options when playing with HST style blocks. I really like how the blocks are worked into the border and glad my friends suggested it! :) I used soft yellow So Fine thread for the background quilting and a light brown Lava thread on the dark batiks. Batting is Quilter’s Dream Blend. I used a Stonehenge extra wide backing. I thought I would share how I made the blocks as I didn’t use a pattern but used a technique that I saw on a Missouri Quilt Company YouTube video that you can see here on how to make quick HST blocks. But instead of using just two fabrics from a charm pack I resized it and replaced one of the fabrics with a Four Patch made with 5” charm squares and that turns out to be 9 1/2” square. Once I had the four patch sewn I cut a 9 1/2” square of my background fabric and layered them right sides together and sewed a 1/4” seam around the outside perimeter. Then I cut the block diagonally twice. Then press open the four sections ( to the dark side) and end up with four HST blocks. Trim blocks, if needed, to 6 1/4" square. Now the only down side to these blocks are they are all bias edges so you have to be very careful when sewing the blocks together that you don’t stretch them out of shape! When adding the border cut 6 1/4" strips WOF of the background and piece in the two corner blocks that extend the design into the border. DO NOT piece white and white HST in the border as that would put bias edges on the outside edge. I have had a few readers do this and that makes for a very unstable outside edge. So if you have a few charm packs sitting around and want make a fast and easy quilt why not give this a try! I used 3 charm packs and my quilt finished 63 3/4"x 69 1/2", that includes the 6 1/4" border. I used about 3m of background/border/binding fabric for this size.
HST (or Half Square Triangle) quilt blocks can be one of the most versatile block designs we have as quilters. With a simple turn of the block, or change of color, your block can go from look…
Enjoy these easy and fun cheat sheets/charts for quilters from Art Gallery Fabrics ®. No Waste Flying Geese, Magic 8 HST, basic HST, Four at a Time HST etc.
For many years I sewed my quilt binding onto the front of my quilts by machine, then sewed the back edge down by hand. I enjoyed the whole ritual and used to look forward to spending a whole evening with a quilt on my lap, slowly stitching the binding on whilst watching Netflix. A quilt is supposed to be a labour of love after all. As my design work got busier, my commitments and deadlines started piling up. I was working on a quilt one day for a paid partnership and I realised I didn't have enough time to sew the back by hand. So I had a go at machine stitching it instead. It was far from perfect, but I had it done in half an hour and met my deadline! I'm sharing my method with you today, as I've had a lot of questions on Instagram after sharing a binding photo recently. This method is not only a massive time saver but also produces more durable quilts that can withstand many, many washes and you don't need to worry about the binding unravelling and needing repairs. MACHINE BINDING STEPS Watch the video here! 1. Cut your binding strips 2 1/4" wide, cross grain. 2 1/4" is my preferred width of strip as it produces a neater finish on the back, without a big 'flap'. I've always cut my binding strips cross grain rather than bias for standard rectangular quilts, in fact often I cut the strips straight from the bolt. I find bias strips overly stretchy for my binding method. If you aren't familiar with these terms this is a helpful article. 2. Join the binding strips with diagonal seams, as shown. Trim excess fabric 1/4” away from the seam, press open .Press the entire binding in half lengthwise, wrong sides facing. 3. Starting half way down one side of the quilt, place the binding strip on the right side of the quilt, raw edge to raw edge. Leave a 6" tail of binding at the beginning, then sew the rest onto the quilt, with a 1/4” seam, mitreing the corners. Leave a 6" tail at the end of the binding also. Join the two tails of the binding with a diagonal seam (as above), press with iron down onto the quilt, and finish stitching it down with a 1/4" seam. (Note: Up to this point this is pretty much the universal method for binding a quilt and there are many video and picture tutorials on the Internet if you are a beginner. I wanted to include these steps in this tutorial for completeness. My machine binding method and my video below focuses on the rest of the binding process.) 4. You will need three quilting clips for the next step. I use Clover Wonder Clips but there are other brands out there, and I heard of people using bulldog clips for this also. Place the quilt on a flat surface, right side up, and fold over the binding to the back, as tight as you can so there is no 'gap' between the edge of the quilt and the binding. Clip. Repeat ~5 inches below, folding over and clipping again, and then one more time 5 inches below the last clip. This is the most important part of the process and takes a bit of practice till you get used to it - if you don't fold back the binding sufficiently your stitches will not catch the binding on the back and you will end up with unsewn gaps. 5. Place the quilt on the machine with the foot right below the first clip. I just use a regular sewing foot but you can use a walking foot also if you prefer or if you use high loft batting. Sew in the ditch with a 3 mm stitch length as close to the binding as you can get, without sewing over it. 6. Keep stitching down the length of the binding, go as slowly as you need to, making sure your stitch line remains right up against the binding edge. Slide the clips down as you go. Periodically stop to repeat step 4, folding over the edge of the binding to the back and clipping. 7. When you get to a corner, first fold over and clip the binding on the lower edge, then mitre the corner. You will notice in the video below that I first mitred the corner in one direction, it didn't sit quite right so I mitred it the other way and the corner looked sharper. There is no 'right' direction of mitreing so do what works and looks best. Put a clip on the corner to hold the mitred fold in place. Keep sewing all the way to the corner, right into it (and in fact you may even want to go a small stitch in onto the binding then back one stitch, if you want to absolutely make sure the corner is secure). Stop with needle down, turn the quilt 90 degrees and keep going as before. You should end up with a binding that's neat and even on the back. It does take some practice, so don't be discouraged if your first effort doesn't look as even. VIDEO TUTORIAL The video below shows the whole process from step 4 onwards. TROUBLESHOOTING - If you end up with unsewn gaps on the back, just unpick the stitch line up to an inch before the gap, fold the binding over tightly, clip, and repeat the process. If the gap is very small e.g. less than 1/4" you can just put a stitch or two in there by hand. - If you are using a very high loft batting, or really struggling to catch the edge of the binding on the back, with lots of unsewn gaps, try cutting your strips 2.5" wide instead. That should give you a bit more room for error as there will be more fabric on the back for your stitch line to catch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For those of you who asked on Instagram - this is the mini quilt I was binding! It's an old project from my WIP drawer that I dug up for this tutorial. It's a free block designed by Lori Holt - you can download the pattern here. The fabrics are a mix of prints from my stash, most of them over 5 years old.
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Well, our marriage survived the cell antenna installation and unfortunately it doesn't work. Our house is too poorly situated to pick up a good signal so I'm packing it up and sending it back. That wa
Whether you're new to quilting or just brushing up on the basics, this Half Square Triangle tutorial is quick and to the point with photographs to guide you along the way! I'm sure since you've taken the time to look this post up that you already know Half Square Triangles (or HSTs for short) are
I've had an unintentionally busy day today. Not busy in an exhausting way but in a way that kept me away from my sewing. But I did get my HSTs trimmed yesterday and played with layouts last night. I had to use the flash to take photos so the colours are not very true but you will get an idea of the fun I have when left alone with HSTs. The combinations are endless and I do get carried away. This was my original intention for the HST layout. But I got to moving those HSTs about. It got a little weird. Then a whole lot bizarre. (I was getting tired after all.) But this was my eventual conclusion. And I love it. If you think that my final decision is completely wrong for this please speak up now before I proceed to the piecing stage tomorrow. Total lack of sewing time today means that there is still time to stop me! Susan
I cannot believe it has been a year since I started this BOM! My first full-length BOM finished, and most certainly not my last. The funny thing is, I love these blocks so much. I love the colours and the great mix of block designs. Why so funny? Because half of the prints I used […]
Designed by © Stitch Supply This quilting pattern / tutorial is available for free... Full post: Woven Star
This is one of my favorites so far. I love indigo and I love this design. I love the quilting. It is going to be a hard one to give away. Here it is on the longarm. Here it is outside without the binding. I chose the binding, now I have to make it and attach it. Then I can show the back also.
The Half Square Triangle block is one of the most popular quilt blocks. This simple block can be arranged in endless ways to create unique quilt designs. The designs in this post were created using 80 Half Square Triangles (2 charm packs) and arranging them in an 8 x 10 grid. Create your own designs...
For those of us not so liberally endowed with a "green thumb", today I give you "Prairie Rose Garden"... orderly rows of roses, complete with stepping stones, and a tidy little border! No sore knees or dirty fingernails from the making of this garden, and the blooms will endure fresh, from season to season! 1 Fat Quarter bundle, Tucker Prairie by 1Canoe2 4 3/4 yd background, Bella White 4 1/2 yd backing, Cross Weave woven in sky (12120 61) 1/2 yd binding, Stormy 36005 11. Optional is a "scrappy" binding made using (1) 2 1/4"strip from each of 15 fabrics.
Learn how to sew half square triangles with 3 methods that can be used to create 2, 4 or even 8 magic patches. Easy formulas for beginners
See how stumbling on a YouTube video showing how to make half-square triangles led to making my first quilt, a study in HSTs!
So when I left off with the FAITH Circle quilt process the other day, I was quilting. Now that's done, and she's all bound up ready to go! H...
Check out these 10 great half square triangle quilt layouts for beginner quilters! There is also a tutorial for making the hst units.
Create a simple quilt that's sure to make a splash with this stunning modern star quilt tutorial. This Supernova Star Quilt Tutorial may look complicated, but is incredibly simple to piece together, and is made up of beginner-friendly half square triangles. This throw quilt uses a combination of strategic color placement and diamond shapes to create movement within the design, and can be made with precuts or fabric scraps, depending what you've got on hand. Complete with a layout diagram, this modern quilt is a great project for beginners who want to work on their piecing skills, and is sure to be a conversation-starter wherever it's displayed.
Create a beautiful quilt with one of our patterns, ranging from beginner level to more challenging. Try a classic pattern or an original project.
Found another STAR block. I am making a quilt from the MIDNIGHT QUILT SHOW on You Tube. MIDNIGHT QUILT SHOW .. VARIABLE STAR QUILT I...
Running out of patterns for your next quilt projects? See this collection of half-square triangle quilt patterns and get some ideas for your next piece.
Good day Quilters! Welcome to my stop on the Inspired by Fabric Star Sampler Blog Hop sponsored by Fabri-Quilt. When contacted by Lisa and asked if I would like to participate, I jumped at the chance. Here's the star I selected! It has a very traditional look but is pieced together in a much simpler way. So let's get started! And there you have it! For a chance to win one of 3 fat quarter bundles of Marblehead Venetian Glass, sign up to follow Inspired by Fabric on their blog (using the "follow" button or the "follow by email" button in the right hand side bar) and leave an email letting us know you did, as well as telling us your favorite star block. You can leave a comment to enter once for each post during the Star Sampler hop (9 entries total). The giveaway will be open through Monday, March 17th at 11:59 EST, and we'll randomly pick 3 winners on Wednesday of that week. Make sure you catch the tutorial for all the blocks in the sampler! March 4: Connie from Free Motion by the River March 5: Joanne March 6: Fabri-Quilt blog team March 7: Dawn Stewart from Spring Water Designs March 10: Heidi from The Whimsical Workshop March 11:Fabri-Quilt blog team March 12: Shanna from Fiber of All Sorts March 13: Tammy from Tamarinis Thank you for visiting and I hope you'll return again soon! Till next time...
Ich liebe Patchwork-Sachen!Mit Patchwork (einem Quilt für den Erstgeborenen, um genau zu sein) hat das mit dem Nähen bei mir ja überhaupt erst angefangen… und auch wenn ich mittlerweile vor… Weiterlesen
Wasn’t it just yesterday that our oldest child, our son Luke, was born on a bitterly cold day in January? Wasn’t it just yesterday that he took his first steps, lost his first tooth, read his first…
Find all of the details on the Half Square Triangle Scrappy Quilt with details on the pattern for the first three blocks and more.
Now that you know how to cut fabric and how to piece a 16-patch quilt block, you are ready for triangles! When it comes to sewing, triangles are a little trickier than squares and rectangles, but still totally within a beginner’s skill level. Follow along, and you’ll be able to sew triangles as well. Or at least, half square triangles. We’ll get to the other types of triangles in a future post. There are affiliate links in this post- what that means is that if you make a purchase through the link, it doesn’t cost you any more than the shopping you were planning to do anyway, but does mean that I earn a small commission. A half square triangle is exactly what it sounds like. Draw a square. Draw a line from one corner to another. That’s a half square triangle, also called an HST. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?!?! Don’t stop reading here, there are a few more tips you’ll need to be successful. Start with 2 squares, and use a pencil (or fabric pen) to draw a line from one corner to another, on the back side of one of your squares. Use your acrylic ruler to draw your line, don’t eyeball it. As you’ve learned in previous posts, precision is an important part of quilting. For the Big Blue Quilt I’m working on, I need my blocks to be half color (blue or gray) and half white. I marked the line on the white square, because it was easier to see the line on the lighter color. I use a ruler for this step. I’m good at quilting. But I have terrible handwriting, and even drawing a straight line is beyond my skill level. Seriously. Even if you have awesome artistry skills, use a ruler anyway. Precision makes all the difference when it comes to quilting. Line up the two squares and stitch a ¼ inch from the line you drew, repeating on both sides of the line. Using the ruler and rotary cutter, cut along the pencil line. Set the seam, and then press towards the darker fabric. You’ve now got two HSTs! There are an endless number of ways you can place your HSTs to make a block. Please note, none of these “blocks” are sewn together. What you see here is simply 4 half square triangles lined up next to each other and turned in a variety of ways. For the quilt I am working on, I’m making a sort of triangle/arrow thingy. Now, you may have noticed I didn’t mention any sizes in this tutorial. This method for making HSTs will work no matter the size of your starting squares. You just need two squares, and off you go. As long as all your starting squares are the same size, you can make a whole quilt with half square triangles, and never need to know the math behind it. But… If your quilt looks like mine, a mix of squares and triangles, you have to involve math in the process. Just like in the previous post about learning to piece, you have to take seam allowances into account. Every time you sew two pieces of fabric together, some of measurement gets lost in the seam allowance. The math for a half square triangle is the finished size + 7/8 inch. There is some amount of a2 + b2 = c2 in figuring out this math, but you don’t really need to know the details. You just need to remember to add 7/8 inch to both height and length when cutting the squares to make your HSTs. You now have all the tools you need to make a quilt top. The remaining posts within the Basics Series are all about taking your quilt top and putting it together with batting and backing to make a completed quilt.
Happy March 1st! And because it is the first Wednesday in March, we are once again opening our monthly theme for the Modern Quilt Along series that we are doing in 2017. If you need a refresher of what this series is, go HERE to read the introduction post on the why’s and how’s. The theme […]
HST (or Half Square Triangle) quilt blocks can be one of the most versatile block designs we have as quilters. With a simple turn of the block, or change of color, your block can go from look…
11447 views on Imgur: The magic of the Internet
