Half Square Triangle Quilt Pattern + HST Tutorial

Here’s my second Kiss Me, Kate quilt and this Half Square Triangle quilt was so easy to make! (You can see the first, here!) This is a super basic quilt that is a perfect beginner quilt – it’s really similar to my free Triangle Quilt pattern (at least in design!), except this one is made with squares (made from triangles!)! Half square triangles are also called HST in quilt lingo and are very easy to make!

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to make 2 HSTs at a time to make the half square triangle super fast. There are so many half square triangle quilt patterns, this is a basic one that uses lots of black as a base to let the fabric prints pop!

These HSTs are made from a 10″ stacker – which means all the fabric was PRECUT! Hurray! I used my new fabric line Kiss Me, Kate for this. It is available NOW – you can order it from Fat Quarter Shop! The black fabric is also precut Riley Blake Solid! Each 10″ stacker or “layer cake” comes with 42 precut squares. We will only use half of the squares, maybe a few more if you are worried about direction prints. So you’ll have a bunch of extra fabric, or you can make 2 of these quilts!

If you are also getting into quilting, check out my Quilt Block of the Month Series – the You’re a Gem quilt block is adorable and fun to make! Or try this Makers Gonna Make block!

The final size of each block is 9″ square. We need 42 squares to create this quilt – final measurements are about 54″ by 63″, which is a nice throw quilt size!

Half Square Triangle 2 at a time measurement chart

Download the cheat sheet below for an easy reference when cutting half square triangles. It will tell what size to cut based on what size you want your HSTs to be. This chart includes a little extra for trimming so it is easy to get nice, precise quilt blocks!

DOWNLOAD HST 2x CHEAT SHEET 

Ready to make some half square triangles?

Half Square Triangle Quilt Materials

–Kiss Me, Kate 10″ Stacker 
–Riley Blake Confetti Cotton Black 10″ Stacker
–disappearing ink pen 
–acrylic ruler, rotary cutter + mat
–quilt batting
-quilt backing, I’m using Riley Blake 108″ Wide Cotton Candy Cotton
–1.5 yards Nail Polish Stripe for binding

Half Square Triangle Cutting

Pull out 1-2 squares of each print from your 10″ precut stack. We will use every print except black polka bow. The only reason we aren’t using that is because there is too much black to pair with solid black, the HST block will just look like a square. We need 2 or 3 squares of each print to get to 42.

If you aren’t using precuts, cut 10″ squares from your fabric and then follow the tutorial below!

HST Quilt Instructions 

Use 1/4″ seam allowance.

Place two squares together right sides together. For this pattern you will use 1 solid black and 1 patterned fabric.

Use disappearing fabric pen to draw 3 lines, one down the exact center (diagonally) of the square. Then use your ruler to find and mark the lines 1/4″ on both sides of the center line. This gives you 1/4″ seam allowance for the squares.

Sew the two side lines.

Use your rotary cutter and ruler to cut along the middle line.

Press seam allowance towards the black fabric and trim the edges.

BAM – you have 2 half-square triangles!

Now, sew the squares together in rows. Then sew the rows together. This quilt is 6 blocks across and 7 rows down.

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