Five Ways of Making Half Square Triangles

Double Bear Paw

Our brother, Mike, and his wife Sue had used a gifted quilt on their bed for 20 years. Sue brought it to us this past summer, at an outdoor get-together and asked if we could mend it. We looked at that threadbare, well worn, used-up quilt and said, “Frayed not. Nope. Don’t think so.”

When we make quilts for our family we give them a guarantee. If it gets a hole, has a seam pop, we’re happy to mend it. If it wears out, we will make them a new one. It was time for a new one.

First, we had them choose a pattern – one of ours of course. After a game of Rock Paper Scissors, they selected Double Bear Paw. The pattern includes various quilt sizes; Baby Bear, Goldilocks, Momma Bear, and Papa Bear. They have a Cal King – Papa Bear size, it is, 102″ square. The Double Bear Paw is a strong, stunning block and a king-size quilt will require lots of Half Square Triangles!

Next, we had Mike and Sue choose the fabric. We had just received Material Girlfriends’ batik collection from Marcus Fabrics. We had used this line for the Willow Lake Block of the Month pattern and program. The batik fabrics are deep, rich, woodsy, and natural. Mike and Sue live on the delta and the colors of these batiks sang to both their souls. No Rock Paper Scissors game was needed for the fabrics choices. Slam dunk. Nothing but net. We eliminated the purples, golds, light green, and a couple of the lightest neutrals. We wanted to keep the palette browns, blues, and greens with the background being a nice light golden batik.

Now it was time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Five Ways of Making Half Square Triangles

I might complain about making a bajillion Half Square Triangles, but I really do like them in a quilt block. Half Square Triangles and Flying Geese are the building blocks of quilt blocks. Once those two units are mastered, piece work is a piece of cake.

One of our favorite sizes to use in our patterns is the 2 1/2″ Unfinished Size Half Square Triangles. Finished Size is 2″. “What?”, you say, “What is the difference between Finished and Unfinished?” Unfinished size is the size it is once you sew it. When it is sewn into your block, the Finished size is what it is without the seam allowance. It can get a little confusing. I know. Who comes up with these terms?

One method and an accurate way to make Half Square Triangles is to use a paper product called Star Singles. This is where the Unfinished and Finished size confuses quilters. On the package, Star Singles are listed by Finished size. You’ll want the 2″ Finished size Star Singles. This is a good tutorial on how to use Star Singles.

A Second method, if you have an AccuQuilt machine ( I do – but the dies are always at my sister’s house), you can use dies to quickly and accurately cut your triangles. They’re No. 5 from the 8″ cube. Just be sure to get extra fabric. There is a bit more waste. But what a time saver!! We did about half the required Half Square Triangles for Mike and Sue’s quilt this way. Then when more fabric arrived, the dies were indeed at the wrong house and we made the rest in the Eight-at-a-Time method.

But the Three Methods below are truly what we use most and are what we include in our patterns. Plus you don’t have to purchase stuff. Below you’ll see I’ve posted page 4 from our latest pattern Willow Lake. Feel free to print it out for your reference. It gives cutting, sewing, and detailed diagrams to help you to sew the number of Half Square Triangles that you might need for a block or quilt top.

Check out this home-grown video on how to make the Half Square Triangles described in the Three Methods above. It is a cut portion from the Willow Lake tutorials for those that are experiencing Dejá Vu. 😉

There you have it – five ways to make Half Square Triangles. Lora was determined to have The Double Bear Paw – Papa Bear size done before I completed this post. She just sent me a text that she is pressing the last seam. It is ready for the long arm! Be sure to follow our Facebook page and Instagram for quilting updates and finishing photos of the Papa Bear Double Bear Paw quilt. Isn’t it beautiful? The pictures just can’t capture how rich the colors are.

Final tip. What if you want to make your Half Square Triangles a size other than 2 1/2″ Unfinished? Let me share an awesome resource with you. Patchwork Math Using Quilting Design Components by Lynn Wilder. I use this book all the time. Lynn collected formulas for years and then put them in a book for all of us to use. It is brilliant and a resource every quilter should have in their library.

I’m ready to get back to my sewing machine. This time I’ll work on a simple Double Irish Chain with NO Half Square Triangles.

Happy New Year! We both wish you many blessings in 2021.

Lisa W. Norton and Lora W. Zmak