Make HST Quickly and Easily with Triangle-Paper Templates

This method makes many perfectly sized and perfectly square HST at a time, quickly and easily.

If you've used Thangles or any sort of triangle papers, you know what to do.  For those of you who have not, here's a quick look at the process.  Whenever I include a triangle-paper template option in a pattern I also include instructions, but photos can illustrate this in more detail.

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I'm demonstrating using the template for HST1 from my Half and Half pattern. This one makes 16 HST at a time.

1. Print out the template as many times as needed to make the number of units you need.   Be sure to choose "no scaling" or "actual size" or "100%" in your printer settings. 

2.  Measure the 1" box to make sure the template printed out the correct size.  The box should measure 1" on every side.

2. Trim the excess paper outside the grey area.  This can be a rough cut.  It doesn't need to be precise.

3.  Layer your fabrics, right sides together, followed by the paper template, right side up.  To plan ahead for pressing to the dark side later, layer fabrics as shown, dark on the bottom, followed by the light, then the paper.  You can pin the layers in place if you wish.

5.   Decrease your sewing machine's stitch length to make it easier to remove the paper later.  I set mine to 1.5 on my machine.  Sew through the three layers, sewing on every dashed line on the template.  It's OK to stitch in the grey margins to travel to the next dashed line.

6.  Carefully trim away the grey margins, keeping the cuts on the solid lines.

7.  Cut on all the solid lines.  Start with the vertical and horizontal lines, cutting precisely on the lines.  Cut on the diagonal lines last.  These cuts don't need to be as precise, as they're in the seam allowance.

10.  Leaving the papers on to stabilize the fabric, press the seam to one side,  Once the unit is pressed,  tear away the paper.  Folding and creasing the paper along the seam makes it easier to tear away the paper.

11.  Trim away any dog ears.  You can use a rotary cutter or scissors.  I find scissors to be faster for this, but do what's easiest for you.

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That's it.  I love that this makes many accurate units at once without having to trim down each unit individually.

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If you prefer to make your HST without papers, you can find a quick tutorial on the two-at-a-time method here.

Happy quilting,

Joanne

NOTE: You can google "triangle papers" to find similar commercially available products to make various sizes of HST.

My thanks to Northcott Fabrics for the fabrics I used in this tutorial.