Half square triangles
 

Does anyone else have this problem? I draw the diagonal line from corner to corner on the smaller piece, put it on the larger piece, pin it into place, sew carefully, and then open and press, and inevitably there's almost 1/4" of fabric from the larger piece sticking out that needs to be trimmed, leaving the block smaller than necessary for the pattern.

How do you avoid this problem?

i always make mine a little bigger and then when done sewing cut to size i want.

Always make it bigger for me. It has NEVER worked out exactly right for me doing it any other way, except if I use Thangle paper.

I don't even get good results from Thangles! I oversize both pieces and make them the same size. Draw my line, sew, cut and press. I then trim them to the correct size. Tedious, and when there are lots, tiresome but it's the only way that works for me.

I'm not sure why you have a larger piece and a smaller piece. With the method you describe, I use two squares of the same size.

The secret of sew and flip corners is to stitch just to the right of your drawn line. Also, when I do that, I iron flap over, trim only the piece of fabric in the middle, leaving flap and back in place, because that back fabric is the true edges and that is what I use to sew seams together. There is a bit of bulk there, but not enough to cause any problems

Maybe going flying geese or snowball type.

I use two squares that are the same size too. The last pattern I used said to cut the squares 2.78" but I cut them 3" and trimmed the HST to size. Not sure why the pattern called for 2.78" when 3" is so much easier to measure.

I always use two squares the same size. Perhaps the different sizes is what is causing the problem

I agree with Blackberry and Geri B - my squares are the same size.

if you are making HSTs, both pieces should be the same size. I'm not sure, but it sounds like you are making snowball blocks, with 'flippy corners'. if so, when you sew, you don't sew exactly on the line, you sew right next to the line, a bit towards the outside corner. The other thing is if the added triangle is slightly smaller, like an eighth or less, don't cut all 3 excess layers. Just cut the 2 inner layers and leave the original corner on the larger piece and use this edge when joining your blocks. The loose edges of the slightly smaller triangle will be caught between the larger piece and the adjoining patch making it secure. If you think of it, you can use a bit shorter stitch length for even more insurance.

The trick for you would be not to cut the larger piece. Use that as your guide because that is the final size it needs to be. You might have to sew a smiggen over from the line. Having said that, if you always seem to have problems, I would suggest purchasing the Triangulation 3.0 CD. It cost about $30 but has paper piecing patterns for every size possible for half square triangle, flying geese, etc. (you will need a printer). Every time you make one of these units, they would be perfect. Good luck.

I prefer to make 8 at a time using two large squares. They are a little oversized so I use the Quilt In A Day triangle square up ruler to cut one cut for squaring up. So easy and quick.
For 2 1/2 in triangles use 6 inch squares.
I spent twenty dollars for Triangulations and don't even use it.

I was just watching a Deb Tucker video on using her flying geese ruler, she sets the top square just a thread or two inside the bottom square, rectangle - whatever. As I read these comments, I suppose it has the same effect as sewing just outside the drawn line. I have not yet tried her method yet, and of course she is all about making them a little bigger and then trimming to perfect. Now I can't wait to get home and experiment.

I am talking about when doing snowballs or flying geese. The quilt I am currently working on is Bonnie Hunter's Smokey Mountain Stars, and you have a 4-1/2" square that you sew a 2" square onto a corner.

So i guess we are not really talking about half square triangles? For the flip and sew for snow ball type blocks I draw my line and sew just to the right of the line or towards the corner. If that makes sense

I also do this. What you may not be including when you draw your line is the 1/4 seam allowance. If you are making HST. the squares should be the same.

I consider myself an accomplished quilter, but have to say that I just love the Tucker Trimmer (Deb Tucker) for making HST, Hour glass, Shaded 4 patch. They are oversized and what is trimmed off is marginal. I also have her Rapid Fire Hunter's Star, V-Block and Wing Clipper for Flying Geese. My points are always perfect!

I recently read, or saw a video(who knows where) that when you draw that line, you should consider it the the pressing line, not the stitch line, so sew just off to the right of it, so when you press, it come out to the correct size.

I think what she is saying is that after sewing her seam, there is a small amount of fabric that has been pushed past the end of her stitching line. I have noticed that when using a less expensive fabric specially on the top of pieces being sewn, that the pressure feet push the top fabric piece, in essence stretching it past your bottom fabric. This has happened to me more times than I wish to count, until I figured out what was happening. Now I lay my two pieces of fabric together, spray starch & press them TOGETHER, then pin at both beginning & ending of that seam I'm going to sew. When I use higher quality fabric I do not have this problem. It happens more so if you are sewing cut triangles because your sewing the bias, and it really stretches.

I love Thangles, place the darker fabric on top then, when you open to PRESS you are always pressing to the dark fabric, saves a step that way.
Oh decrease the stitch length like in PP, makes removing the paper a snap.

When not using paper, as you draw the diagonal line, I use a roller chalk marker because it is too easy to stretch the fabric.

I always oversize.

Conquer 1/2 sqs and it will feel amazing - I know you can!!

what I worry about with this snowball type of block is getting that 1/4" seam allowance at the peak so I don't cut off the points

Ah, the mysteries of quilting and math. You measure carefully, cut carefully and press with care and you still end up with an off HST. I think the quilting goblins sneak in and cut some off when we're not looking. I use two square the exact same size and that seems to do the trick. The idea of making the HST larger and then cutting it to size may seem redundant, but if it works - do it.

I have made patterns where a half square triangle was used on a larger piece and the method used was to put the smaller square on one corner of the larger piece, (sometimes the larger piece was a square and sometimes a rectangle). In any case the outcome is a triangle. I found that to get the corner of the top piece to match the corner of the bottom piece after it was pressed into a triangle shape, I needed to stitch to the right (or closer to the corner side) of the line that is drawn to get them to compensate for what you lose in folding and pressing and come out more even. It also helps to use a finer thread like Aurifil 50 weight (LOVE that thread) so less is taken up in the sewing process.

Do you have problems with other seams mismatching?

If you have a machine that has a ppresser foot pressure adjustment feature, you couldd try lessenning the pressure.

Is it the upper or lower layer ( as you are sewing the pieces together) that ends up being " short"?

With Thangles, I found that I had to sew just on the inside of the line (on the seam allowance side) rather than stitching on the line. I guess it's basically the same as sewing a scant 1/4". Once I figured that out, my HSTs came out much better.

I recently tried Jenny Doan's method of putting two squares together, sewing 1/4 inch around the outside edge and then citing them apart on the diagonal. You wind up with 4 hst's and they were pretty accurate. Just a little trimming. There's a You-Tube tutorial online.

What I do is press corner squares in 1/2 and sew just to the right or left of fold depending on what side they are placed on the other square or rectangle. I did this to make the hearts on my irish chain but would work the same here

I bought Brenda Hennings Triangulations dvd and I can print off just about any size HST's I need. The resulting sqs are very precise with no irritating trimming needed. I will never do a HST's again without printing off stitching sheets that result in multiples of sqs. A +++ to Brenda H!!

I have found that by making the HST's slightly larger, like even 1/8", I mark the diagonal line, sew on either side, press, then trim to the correct measurement. It seems that no matter how careful I am, I usually wind up trimming to the correct size, some more than others, but it works for me. I would rather take the time to trim after sewing than to have pieces the wrong size, even by just a little bit.

I have to second this!! Her rulers and methods are THE BEST and my points are always right on!!

I agree with those who said to sew just to the right, about two threads to the right.

This is what I do as well. It doesn't seem to matter how exacting I am, they just never turn out right. Now, when I do flying geese I use the flying geese ruler - sorry I can't remember her name. Those are made oversized and trimmed to size.

My thought, exactly!

I find when I am sewing HST if I stitch just a hair over from the line on the side that you are going to fold it over on it works out lots better, I think Fons and Porter have a description of this somewhere on their web site, or maybe Bonnie Hunter on Quiltville.com

I have the CD Triangulations and used to struggle and struggle with HST's, but after buying Triangulations, never have a problem again, any size and as many as I want to make, always perfect. Only thing that slows you down is taking the paper off when you are done but it is well worth it to me to have perfect HST's.

I inevitably had problems with HSTs until I bought my Accuquilt Go. I bought ALL the HST dies, and now I don't have a problem. I won't make a block with HSTs that have measure other than what my GO dies make!

I always make mine at least one inch bigger and then trim done. Works well.

Agree, but if I am doing a one of a kind, or sampler or some such, have to know how to do it correctly the " by hand" way too.......

On a stitch and flip block (snowball), I sew a little to the right (1 thread) and that seems to help. I also only trim the center piece out - that way if it doesn't turn out perfect, I can still use the back piece (which is cut to the right size) for lining up the pieces.

When just making HST, I always oversize the cut and trim after sewing. It is much more accurate this way.