Yes that is right. Measure the template from the center to the point. That plus 1/2" is the width you need for each strip.

So a 4" HST = 2 -3 1/2" wide strips by as long as you want.
Sew strips together open and iron the seams.
Set the 4" template on the seam on point. Two opposite corners need to be on the seam. Rotary cut accurately around the template.

You will get a 4" HST. Pay attention to cutting accurately and you won't have to trim anything. Don't let the template move while you are cutting.

I use sandpaper strips glued on the back of my template to get a good grip so it doesn't move.

thank you for your patience. LOL I really appreciate it. Did you see my avatar? the borders had around 120 HST. I made them and then did the whole square up thing after sewing. I will definitely use this next time.

You're welcome! I hate to see people struggling with these HSTs when they are really pretty easy to do. Hope you enjoy it!

Great Tutorial, Rhonda!!

thanks Retrogirl

Hey Rhonda, I have a question about cutting the square out of the center. It looks like you butt them up against each other - so how do you keep the rotary cutter from overshooting the corner? (Hope that makes sense.) If you cut past the corner and don't maintain the same angle, then you will lose part of the next piece.

You can get a more exact cut utilizing the smaller rotary cutters.

Mad for myself I use a wider strip but I wanted to keep the waste down for everyone. I just do it carefully on the corners and don't go any farther than I have to. About a 1/4" from the corner or less and you should do ok. You can always pull the square up and out and run the blade over the bit of fabric still connected.

I've never had one but that would be a good idea too!

Rhonda, I happend to get one as a gift or free with a mat or something or I probably wouldn't have tried them...they are perfect for small/mini blocks and I find I'm using it far more often than I had expected.

I tend to be a creature of habit and don't stray far from what I am used to. I have looked at them but haven't tried one yet. I might have to get one and try it.

I used to do everything by hand and was very nervous of having to do all on the machine when I started selling 12 years ago. I decided to buy a rotary cutter and wasn't sure I wanted to use one as I felt by hand was more accurate. But I tried it and after a while I wouldn't do it any other way. So it would probably be the same with this smaller one too. I might like it more than I think. I dont' like the cutters that are the kind you press the handle down to engage the blade. I started with a Fiskars and I can't stand any thing else. I tried my friend's cutter the kind I described above and I wouldn't want one.

I think those are an Olfa brand maybe? I'll stay with my Fiskars!

Thanks for the answer. I'll have to give this a try. ...somewhere I have one of those baby wheels.

Your welcome Mad. You will have to let me know if you like it. I realize that everyone has their own way of doing things and I am a creature of habit so I am not offended if someone doesn't prefer my shortcuts. If it works for you fine and if it doesn't that's fine too! I took a class one time so I could get the designs used in the sampler quilt. But I didn't use her templates I came home and used my shortcuts to make the blocks. I didn't have much patience with using a differant template for each piece when I could do it my way easier.

Each to their own. I firmly believe in live and let live as you know Mad!

Rhonda
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one to do that! Thinking inside my own box...lol. I will look at directions for something and say to myself 'wouldn't it be easier to....' then I convince myself that the person writing the directions is the 'expert' and would be doing things the right way and I'm just being silly thinking of different ways.
I once got a 50% on a pharmceutical test in LPN school because I had all the right answers but hadn't figured them out the way the instructors had showed us....MY way was much easier, but they didn't care! lol
Have a great day!
Carol B

Hi Rhonda, thank you for the templates I received them yesterday.. You re sweet to do this. Thanks again,Regards, Peterparley

You're so welcome!! Hope you enjoy using them!!

Me too. I just did some HSTs the other day and what method did I use? Old tried and true drawing the line down the middle. Slap self on forehead! lol

They call it muscle memory Mad!!(no not the brain muscle!)
You do what you have trained yourself to do and your muscles remember the steps and do them automatically!! LOL

So retrain your brain and your muscles!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :thumbup: :thumbup:

This is a great tute... wish I had looked at this yesturday BEFORE i cut 132 triangles to make hst for the quilt I'm working on. Guess that just means I should spend even more time on this board LOL

Thanks for the tutorials!

thanks everyone!

GREAT !!!

Rhonda..thank you so very much for this tutorial...It was Very helpful...hugs Swimer Girl

I'm glad it helps!!

All I can say is ingenious!! Thatnks for the short cut and tip!!

Wow!!!! Thanks.

Am I missing something ?? If you cut the original half-square triangle unit out of the strip---don't you then have all of
the sides of the square on the bias ? Awfully hard to sew
accurately to anything else, especially for beginners because they stretch/ what you have after further cutting & sewing is an hourglass, not a four-patch. four-patch is 4 squares of different colors or pairs of colors.

Ok the largest HST I usually use is 1 1/2" so I don't pay any attention to bias or grain. But I am going to try a larger block and see.

So someone tell me what problems do you run into with bias. If I understand it right it makes the fabric stretch right?

I'll try a 4" square and see what happens. I learn by trial and error and if this is affecting the HSTs then I need to be aware of this for those who do make quilts. When I use the small HSTs I have never had any problem. So I am assuming that the larger blocks will need some thought.

yes, bias is stretchy. not too bad if you sew two pieces or HSTs & one of them is on the straight grain. but if you end
up sewing two bias edges together, you can have problems,
especially if you don't pin ends. that's why you cut your outside setting triangles from a large square into quarter-square triangles. then you have the straight-grain edges on
the outside of your quilt. Cutting HSTs with the shown method
works really accurately if you first use bias strips, then cut them with a square-up ruler. method is called bias-square.
I'll check to see if there is a tutorial somewhere.

Lady, you're marvelous!!
Do you wanna be adopted?

Love this. I've loved the look of HSTs
but couldn't get too enthused about
making them. Always had to cut them
down after making them too large!!

Thanks Ramona! This is the way I do all of my HSTs.

Thanks for tute. No excuse now for not doing HST's

do you cut your strip savage to savage this is neat thank you

I must be very lazy. When I cut HST I take two pieces of fabric the same size, right sides together sew around all four side (all the way to the end), then cut in half diagnonally, and cut in half diagonally again. Works for me.

I just cut whatever I want. I do alot of scrappy so I use alot of differant fabrics.

If one is a bit OCD about grain-lines (any one you might think of, Rhonda?),

one can cut the strips on the bias (45 degree angle), sew them together, and then go on exactly like Rhonda has illustrated with the pressing and cutting.

Thanks Bear I can never come up with the words to explain that since with my minis it isn't an issue.

ive found this method to be the only 1 i can make HSTs without them turning wonky on me... so its the only way i use anymore :D
thank you sooo much for posting this :D

I'm glad it helps Tanya!! I use to use the strips primarily but we use more scrappy than anything so my friend Dorothy who does my prep work just cuts pieces slightly larger than the size she needs and piles them up and flag sews them together. Then she takes the leftovers and resews them for the next size down. IE: She makes 1 1/2" squares then when all done she pulls the leftovers apart and resews them for 1 14" and then the leftovers go into 1" squares for me! She does hundreds of them at a time and then I have them all ready when I want to sit down and use them!

But if you are making alot of the same color HSTs then this works the best.

Thanks for sharing this one. I'm just starting off and the
way you layed it out....I just may be able to do it. You're a great help.