Making Perfect Half Square Triangles

Demo: Spinning Star HST Paper
Warning: Addictive

I came across Spinning Star HST papers in a cute quilt shop while on vaca in Oklahoma called Threads of Tradition. They had made a chevron baby quilt using them them and I thought, what the heck, I’ll try that. The added bonus was the papers were designed by a local quilter in Edmond, OK and I do like to support my local small business!

I contacted Liz of Spinning Star Designs and she generously donated papers for a demo and a door prize for the guild.

Triangle paper was always something I knew of but never tried. I always thought, “Why would I need that? I can make half square triangles…for free lol!”

But, oh how wrong I was. The paper made me squeal…and in just one afternoon, I had made over 200 PERFECT HST’s. So today I want to share this product that you may have overlooked in your local quilt store. I’m convinced, once you try it, you’ll never want to go back to your other method. I promise!

We’re going to be working with 3″ HST papers. One paper will produce (8) 3-1/2″ unfinished blocks. For this demo, I’m using the Riley Blake line by Lori Whitlock called “Oh Boy”. You can find the papers and the fabric line in the SewModDesigns Etsy shop.

Let’s begin! Cut two 8″ squares of fabric. Place the pieces right sides together.

Place your HST paper on top and pin.

Shorten the stitch length on your machine to 1.6.

Sew on the dotted line starting where the arrows point in the #1 direction on the paper. Pivot and turn when you arrive at the solid dots and continue all the way around the paper until you’ve finished stitching on the line #8.

Using your rotary cutter and ruler, cut along all the solid lines.

Tear your paper away. If you bend the paper towards the seam, the paper will tear away easily.

Press the seam towards the darker fabric.

We all know that a great quilt starts with the cutting, and a damn near perfect seam allowance. This paper has that part covered!

I made several different blocks for the demo. This one is a 12.5″ unfinished block using (2) HST’s units with one each of a 3.5″ square of white and the matching HST fabric.