Tag Archives: Half Square Triangles

WIP: Adding Blue

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I made some quilt progress this weekend with lots and lots of half square triangles.  I bought a special template to help speed up the making of all those half square triangles, a skinny little tool called the “Quilter’s Magic Wand”.

Quilter's Magic Wand Tool

Tracing from corner to corner will give you lines to follow for perfect quarter inch seams.  There’s a little line etched into the template to help you match the corners.  Here’s a close up so you can see it better.

Quilter's Magic Wand Tool Macro

I bought mine from Donellefritz on Etsy.

Kim's Quilt Progress Blue

This quilt will be for my best friend who is engaged, and I’m hoping it will make her think of the blending of two hearts, two families and two lives.  I think she’ll understand.

sarahsigres

Juju’s Quilt

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The moment I saw this little quilt by Erica of Craftyblossom, I knew I would be making my own version of it.  It was just perfect — crisp and clean, eye catching yet simple.  And it didn’t take long until I knew who the recipient would be, as my friend Sarah is having a daughter she currently calls Juju.

There’s a lot to like about Sarah, but it can be helpful to focus on one aspect of a person if you want to make her a quilt.  Sarah’s seamlessly blended her very techie family life into their historic Virginia home.  She loves sharing the stories of her community’s past and can give you the best guided tour you’ve ever had.  Taken down to the basics, she just has a passion for keeping the past alive and here with us in the present.

When she and her husband got married, Sarah wore a beautiful white dress.  Around her waist was a bright red ribbon in memory of her Dad.  It was a simple but powerful thing.  With a red ribbon, she tied her past, present and future together on one of her family’s most special of days.  This little quilt is an attempt to help Sarah wrap her daughter up in those amazing memories.

And so we have Juju’s baby quilt.  Here it is pieced, but not yet quilted or bound.

WIP: Juju's Quilt Top

The ingredients, if you’re curious: A charm pack of white squares, two charm packs of Silent Film and Kona solid in Red.  I removed the black from the Silent Film packs.  The darkest gray in the packs, Pepper, seemed dark enough without being harsh.  (It looks black in these photos, and it almost is.)  The backing is Kona in Coal, the darker medium gray from the front.  The half square triangles were made as in this tutorial.

The binding is more of the Kona Red, a ribbon of red like Sarah’s wedding dress.

Juju's Quilt: Binding

And here’s the finished quilt:

Juju's Quilt

Juju's Quilt

Juju's Quilt

I hope that Sarah will have many new memories of Juju and her quilt!

Chervon Values Quilt

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Chevron Half Square Triangle Values Quilt and Pillow

I posted a tutorial recently for making half square triangles, the basis of this quilt and pillow, if you’d like to try it for yourself.  I plan to use half square triangles for a very different style of quilt for another upcoming little one soon, but for now I’ll just enjoy the feeling of accomplishment from this one.

Chevron Quilt

Have a great day!

Values: Half Square Triangle Tutorial

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Half square triangles are amazing — one of the most beautiful and versatile quilting blocks, they’re also among the easiest to make.  I especially love the look of a values quilt done in half square triangles.  The contrast between the colors of your triangles allows you to create visual interest and depth.  Here are some photos to show you what I mean.  The squares are in the same position in each of these photos, just rotated so that the light and dark sides make different patterns.

Dark and Light

Pinwheels

Dark Center

Light Center

Diamonds

You can see more variations of half square triangles in finished quilts in this Flickr gallery.  Ready to try it yourself?

You’ll want to start with simple squares.  I like to use charm packs, packs of precut five inch squares that usually include prints from an entire line of fabric.  (The fabrics used here are Fossil Fern by Benartex, a fabric line that’s been in print for an amazing 15 years!)

Sort your squares into three piles by color value: light, medium and dark.  Then pair up colors by taking one each from two different piles, placing the lighter on top with right sides facing.  Draw a diagonal line from one corner to another.  (This line won’t be seen, so feel free to use a regular pencil if you like.)

1

Use the line as a guide to sew a quarter inch seam along one side,

Half Square Triangle Tutorial: Sew a Quarter Inch Seam

then the other.

Half Square Triangle Tutorial: Turn and Sew

Cut along the pencil line and you’ve got two new squares.

Half Square Triangle Tutorial: Cut Along the Line

Press the seam open.  Don’t worry about those wonky little bits that stick out, they’re about to be trimmed off.

Half Square Triangle Tutorial: Iron the Seam Flat

I’ve started with a five inch square, but I’m going to trim it down to 4.5″.  This will allow me to even up the square nicely.  I like to use a square template for this because it’s got handy lines for me to follow, but you can also use the lines along your cutting mat.  For the first cuts, I line up the center seam with a diagonal line on the template and make sure the fabric under the template is still larger than 4.5″, then cut along the right and top edges.  Having that perfect center line will make piecing much easier later.

Trimming Half Square Triangle, First "Squaring Cut"

Flip the fabric around so the two uncut edges are at the right and top again.  Line up the center seam with that diagonal line and make sure the bottom and left edges are at the 4.5″ marks.  Careful cut the top and right sides.

Trimming Half Square Triangle, Second "Squaring Cut"

This will give you a half square triangle made of two perfect triangles.

Finished Half Square Triangle

And then you’re ready to set them out in different patterns and see how you like them best!