Skip to content

Half Square Triangles 8 at a Time

  • by

I’m excited to announce that I’m currently working on writing my first quilt pattern! If you’ve been following me on Instagram you’ve gotten a few glimpses of the very beginnings of my sample quilts. (Here’s a hint: they’re made from Kona solids.)

This pattern is based off the 8 at a time method of making half square triangles (HSTs). Today I’m sharing the detailed step-by-step.

This method is great for when you need to make lots and lots of HSTs of the same color (preferably divisible by 8).

8 at a Time Half Square Triangles Method

1. With the right sides together, pair two squares together.

2. On the back of one square draw lines along both diagonals.

Block with lines across diagonals

3. Sew a ¼” seam along both sides of each diagonal.

Sewing 1/4" away from diagonal lines

4. Cut into 4 equal squares.

Cut into 4 equal squares

5. Cut along the diagonals.

Cut into 8 triangles

6. Press the seam towards the darker fabric.

HST with seams pressed to one side

7. If you made the squares exactly to size, trim off the ears. If you made the squares a little larger, trim them down to size.

Trim away excess from half square triangles

I prefer to trim blocks down to size. I’m not great at sewing perfectly and ironing always seems to warp it a little. It’s really nice to have perfectly square blocks for sewing the whole quilt together.

When you’re all done you end up with 8 HSTs!

8 half square triangles

Next week I’ll be going into the math for determining the size of the starting squares so stay tuned!

8 at a time half square triangle infographic
5 2 votes
Article Rating
Tags:
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments