How to Make a Half Square Triangle
Half Square Triangles, or HSTs, are a corner stone to patchwork. Being able to make a half square triangle efficiently and quickly will make your patchwork life a lot easier. I’ve put together 2 methods for creating Half Square Triangles to help you work out your preferred method of construction.
My preferred method is to use the From Marti Michell Patchwork Templates and Rulers for making HSTs.
Traditional Half Square Triangle Assembly
The following method allows you to make two at a time half square triangles. When using this method I like to make mine a little bigger and then trim to size as I find this helps if you seams aren’t as accurate as they need to be. It does mean that there is fabric waste. If you’re finding that ever with the fudge factor (trimming) your blocks are not coming out to size make sure you’re sewing with an scant quarter inch seam.
FMM Half Square Triangle Assembly
I adore using the From Marti Michell templates and rulers for my work and this is a great example of why:
- Make only the half square triangles you need.
- Spend less time cutting as you don’t need to trim when done.
- Easy to fussy cut with as you can see exactly what fabric will show in your half square triangle.
- Less fabric waste as you’re not trimming to size.
- Engineered corners make it easy to line up when assembling the block which increases your accuracy.
Tip: If you’re using the From Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates and Rulers I highly recommend reading the information that comes contained in your packaging. It’s a great resource on how to cut with the templates, how to understand the grain-line on the template, how to know which template to use when using patterns and in some cases gives additional patterns for blocks you can make with them.
