April 7, 2014

Charity Quilts -- HST Examples

Hey TMQG ladies -- I hope everyone enjoyed the examples post I did a few months back on easy square and strip quilts. This time I want to focus on the HST (half square triangle), it's a very versatile block and there are so many ways to make them and even more ways to make a great impact with them. 72 blocks (or quilt tops) made using HST's -- If you made the blocks all the HST's starting with just 4 -- 14 or 15 inch blocks using the method below, the finished block is large enough for a charity quilt. 

Another great tip I came across recently was sewing all 4 sides of the square and then cutting across the middle in both directions yields 4 HST units and you didn't have to do any marking the middles.  (be sure to starch your fabrics or it can get stretchy) 
Demo of how to cut half square triangle blocks by sewing around all the edges of a larger square and then cutting into fourths on the diagonal. Yields 4 HST blocks. This site has a chart that you can use as a quick reference to calculate how big the square needs to be to yield the size HST blocks you need.
Here is a size chart when using this method 
Cutting measurements for half square triangles using Missouri Star Quilt Companys (video on u-tube) ingenious method of assembling a HST for  most HST projects by taking 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鈥?seam allowance. Then you cut the square on both diagonals and you end up with four pieces.
Pretty examples for some inspiration -- Images and Links can be found here, all images below are from Pinterest. 
offset diamond baby quilt - easy, basic tutorial/instructions given, lovely!  Pieced back too! Love the colors!
Scrappy star - so cute!
Chicopee Giant Star Quilt
HST (Half square triangles)
Black and White HST

Welcome to Nunaka baby quilt | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Lava Meets Sea Quilt Top - I love the colors! If I could quilt then I know what I'd be working on!
Live, Laugh, Love... Sew: WIP Wednesday
turquoise
Friday Night Brights

Hope everyone is inspired and feels eager to give some of these ideas a try, either for themselves or as part of a charity quilt. 

3 comments:

  1. This is great, Katie! Lots of different sizes of HST's and examples of how to piece them. I love the second one and the gray and pink one!

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  2. Be ware of bias edges! They will stretch

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the tip -- I did put that tip in the blog.

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