Easy HST Tutorial and February BOMs

For February, both of the Craftsy BOMs are focused on working with HSTs (Half-square triangles). In the monthly lesson, Amy introduced two methods for creating these, the traditional hand-drawn method and the "magic" HST method (here is a video linking to both methods as shown by Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilt Company).  Both have their perks and drawbacks. The traditional method is time-consuming but reliable and the magic method is quick but ends up leaving your bias edges around the outside of your squares. 

I ended up not using either and instead using a method that I worked out back in December, when I made this mini quilt for my mother-in-law. After playing with some fabric and doing a little math, I came up with a way to make a bunch of HSTs in one pass with minimal work. I am sure I am not the first to "discover" this, but I thought I would share a quick tutorial in case anyone wanted to see another take on making HSTs. The only tricky part of this method is that you need to do a little math in order to be able to figure out how big to cut your starting squares, but I assure you, if I can do it, so can you! 

 

For my HSTs, I needed to end up with unfinished 3 1/2" squares (3" once sewn into the final block). I started by taking that number (3 1/2") and adding 1/2" to figure in the seam allowance*. I then took this number (4") and doubled it (8") to figure out the side dimension of the fabric squares I would cut. Pretty simple, huh.

EDIT: Here is the actual equation to plug your numbers into:

A = your desired HST size (unfinished)
B = the side dimensions (in inches) of the square you will cut from your two fabrics (i.e. 8" x 8")

(A + 1/2") x 2 = B

Now that the math portion is done, here are the step-by-step directions for the rest:

1. I cut two 8" x 8" squares (based on my calculation) of fabric and layered them right sides together.

2. I placed a couple pins to prevent shifting and drew two lines diagonally, from corner to corner

3. I sewed on both sides (up and down) of these two lines

4. I then cut the sewn square in half length-wise

5. And then in half width-wise

6. Finally I cut the marked diagonals to create 8 HSTs ready to be pressed and trimmed to size

*Mathematically, you really only need to add 3/8" to your desired size for seam allowance, but I find that it is usually better to give myself some room to trim at the end rather than ending up too short.

 

Here are my trimmed and pressed 3 1/2" HSTs ready to be sewn. 

Chunky Chevron Block in Summersault, Prince Charming, and Kona Cerise

I used this method almost exclusively to make the HSTs in both of these blocks. The only ones that I used the traditional method on were the lighter triangles in the Chunky Chevron block, simply because I didn't need 8 of them, I only need 4. 

Balkan Puzzle Block in Summersault, Lotus (by Amy Butler), and Kona Cerise

I hope that you find this tutorial to be helpful! If you have any question or any other HST tips, feel free to leave me a comment. I'd love to hear what you think!

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