Is there an easy peasy way to make foolproof HST's?
 

I love the quilts with HST's but mine never seem to come out exact - is there a foolproof way of getting them accurate without too much extra effort?

Yes. The Accuquilt Go! die cutter creates perfect triangles with the "dog ears" nipped off. This makes it very easy to match up triangles for sewing.

yep. foolproof. Love it.

Triangulations CD Sew on the dotted lines and cut on the bold lines. You get a bunch of HST from each paper

Triangles on a Roll work great too.

I find that making them a little bigger than they are suppose to be helps me. They get distorted sometimes because of the bias and I use starch and make sure I press, not iron. But making them 1/2" to 1" larger helps me also. Triangles on a Roll are a dream to use, but you have to buy the correct size for each project and that can be spendy. But I've done it just because it simplifies things so much. It's worth it to me!!!

I've found that taking a scant 1/4 inch seam helps a lot. Also, take a look at Rhonda's method of HST's (see the tutorial section here). She uses strip piecing and then centers a square template on the seam line on the diagonal to cut the HST from the strip. There is some fabric waste but it's a lot less marking and stress. They come out great using her method.

No matter which method you use, I think it's important to avoid having bias edges on the outsides of the HSTs.

I make mine out of squares that are 1" bigger than the desired size and trim them down. Perfect every time! I do have the AccuQuilt Go with the HST dies but I rarely use it.

This may help.

Jan in VA