Half Square Triangles Quilting Technique, Class 15

This is Class #15 of tips for quilting beginners. half_square_triangle_quilts In today’s workshop we will learn how to create half square triangles to make dazzling larger triangle quilts out of them. There are some basic techniques for quilting triangles. Over the next few weeks quilting Instructor Janeen van Niekerk will walk us through the various steps involved.

If you are new here and
would like to start this online beginners quilting course

at the beginning, click here:
how to make a quilt.

Over to Janeen van Niekerk:

How to Quilt Half Square Triangles

What is a HST or also known as a Half Square Triangle?

It’s a square made up of 2 facing triangles.

How to Make a Half Square Triangle Quilting Technique

There are various ways to make a half square triangle quilt block or entire quilt.

Method A: halfsquare_trianglequilts1

You could cut a whole lot of triangles which are ready to sew together into pairs.

Method B:

Or, depending on how many HST’s you need, you could take a lovely little short cut and do the following:

· Cut two squares of fabric (for our example make it two different fabrics). Each square needs to be 1” (2.5 cm) bigger than the finished HST unit. (cut 2 at 4,5” – 11,5 cm)

See image.

halfsquare_trianglequilts2

· Draw a diagonal line with a washable pen or invisible ink pen or even a soft pencil on the wrong side of one of the squares.

halfsquare_trianglequilts3 · Now draw another line alongside that line with a ¼” (6 mm) apart. Draw another on the other side of the line as well. You will have 3 lines drawn on your fabric.

· NOTE: the middle line is only a guide. Do not sew on this line.

· Place the squares on top of each other, with wrong sides outwards and your line drawing facing you.

· Now we sew a seam onto the outside lines.

half square triangle quilts quilting patterns techniques · Cut the unit in half on the middle diagonal line.

halfsquare_trianglequilts6 · Press open your units – to the darker side fabric.

· Trim your HST units down to be 3.5” (9 cm). Make sure that they are square by aligning the diagonals with the ruler diagonal. I have a special small square 4,5” ruler for this job – make life a whole lot easier. Find the 3,5”mark and make sure there is a little fabric on each side that can be cut off. Trim the two sides.

halfsquare_trianglequilts7 · Turn your HST around and line up the diagonal to the ruler again – this time with the cut sides on the 3,5”line. Trim the other two sides.

halfsquare_trianglequilts8 · You now have 2 HST units that measure 3,5” (9 cm).

Your First Half Square Triangle

That’s it for today.

Once you have made these and are comfortable with HST’s we will make a lovely quilt wall hanging (18” – 40cm) using this HST technique.

‘Till the next time,

By Janeen van Niekerk, Quilting Instructor

QuiltArtDesigns.blogspot.com

Janeen van Niekerk, glossary quilting terms

How to Sew a Quilt – Quilting Workshops for Beginners

Want to begin sewing quilts with me? Join our free online quilting workshops, which you can take at your leisure, any time you want. Work at your own pace.

Free Quilting Patterns & Tutorials & Classes in this quilting course:

Class #1: Fussy cutting ~ How to Make a Quilt: Free Quilting Beginners Class.

Class #2: Quilting Tools – What you’ll need as a beginner.
Class #3 : How to Choose & Work with Quilting Fabric.
Class #4: How to Read & Work with a Quilt Pattern.
Class #5: Creating a Finished Quilt Block .
Class #6: How to Make Quilt Rows – from finished blocks.
Class #7: How to add Borders to your quilt.
Class #8 : How to finish a quilt: add backing, batting and how to bind a quilt.
Class #9 : How to Make Quilt Blocks more Exciting.
Class #10 : How to Make a Modern Lap Quilt.
Class #11 : How to Make a Modern Lap Quilt, the next steps.
Class #12: How to finish a Quilt :: Modern Lap Quilt.
Class #13/14: Quilting Glossary with Quilt Sewing Terms for Beginners
Class #15: Half Square Triangles Quilting Techniques
Class #16: Half Square Triangles Quilting Techniques, part 2

About Quilting Instructor Janeen van Niekerk

how to make a quilt patterns janeen van niekerk Our latest news of quilt making instructor Janeen van Niekerk is that she has just launched a brand new paper piecing magazine.

Quilt artist Janeen van Niekerk is an avid quilter. In particular, she’s an accomplished paper piecing designer. She does it all with a passion.

Janeen’s prolific range of hand-made quilts (she takes commissions for personalized, stylish portrait quilts), as well as her unique quilt patterns (think quilts featuring safari animals and trees, or kids toys) are inspired by her environs; she lives in sunny Pretoria in South Africa, with her husband and kids.

Janeen offers her quilts designs & paper piecing patterns for individual sale Out of Janeen’s 230+ quilt patterns for sale, these are my top 5 Paper Piecing Quilt Patterns, Animals and Flowers. All really beautiful!!

Janeen van Niekerk (spelled by some as Janine van Niekerk) is also part of the Free Block of the Month -club, offering a free paper piecing quilt block pattern, each month. Check it out here:

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Quilting Pattern Library & Other Training Courses

This gorgeous owl quilt pattern is both included in one of Janeen’s books as well as being available for individual sale. Don’t you just love this quilt design?

The owl and all Janeen’s other patterns are for sale here at Craftsy. BTW. Crafty also has other quilting, sewing and other craft workshops, which I encourage you to check out, by clicking either the banner below, or the link above.

Or,… continue your journey with Quilting patterns, tutorials and ideas featured here at FineCraftGuild.com (beyond Janeen’s quilting course).
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