Fast HST Baby Quilt

In need of a fast baby quilt?  This fast HST baby quilt is just what you need! 

HST stands for Half Square Triangles. They look just the way you are imagining, squares that have been cut in half to make two triangles.

HSTs can be made from squares of any size.  This Half Square Triangle tutorial is a great place to check out lots of details including information for nearly any size quilt block you might want.

For this tutorial, because the keyword in Fast HST Baby Quilt is FAST, I chose to work with 5” squares.

I picked this size because Charm Packs are 5” squares and they can also be cut easily from the 10” Layer Cakes that are popular with quilters.

I chose to cut my squares from my stash, but wanted to make this tutorial easy to translate for those who like pre cuts.

However you get your fabric, you need 120 5” squares for a finished quilt that measures 40” by 48”.

As always, you can use more or less fabric to make a quilt of a different size.

Quick HST Quilt Block Tutorial

I am not going to spend a lot of time in this tutorial on How to Make Half Square Triangles. The linked tutorial gets in to all the nitty gritty of that.

For this tutorial, you’re going to take two squares and a draw a line from corner to corner on the backside of the lighter of the two fabrics. 

Place the two squares right sides together and sew ¼” on EACH side of the line.

Trim apart directly on the line and press towards the darker of the two fabrics.

120 fabric squares will make 120 Half Square Triangles.

Trimming Triangles

Yes, you could jump from here right into block making.  You could.

As much as no one likes trimming slivers of fabric, it’s an important step. I highly recommend that you don’t skip it.

If you’ve got an acrylic quilting ruler with a  45* line, trimming HSTs is straight forward and nearly easy.

The first thing I do is pair up my HSTs to trim them two at a time.

I do this by nestling two together at the diagonal seams, right sides together.

I trim my first two sides with the smallest sliver possible. This leaves the largest amount of trimming for sides three and four.

You can trim your half square triangles down to any size you want, but since we started with 5” triangles, trimming to 4½” is perfect.  The blocks will finish at 4” in the quilt and that’s why it measures 40” by 48” overall.

I’m not going to lie, a growing pile of skinny slivers that have been trimmed away makes me happy.

Especially when the scraps are such a vibrant bunch.

Making Fast HST Baby Quilt Blocks

Polka dots and stars and bright, bright colors, oh my!

That is 120 squares, trimmed and ready to use.

Pick two Half Square Triangle Quilt Blocks that have four colors/fabrics in a pleasing combo.  I try to make sure that there are four separate fabrics in the step. 

Or, at the very least, that if two are same/similar color, that they are well separated in the grouping.

Sew the HST on the right to the HST on the left.  Press towards the block on the right.

Repeat 59 more times to turn 120 squares into 60 pairs.

When it comes to putting the pairs together into blocks, two things matter.

Color placement of the eight fabrics.  As long as you like it, you’re good to go!

The direction that the seams have been pressed.  It’s hard to tell in this photograph, but the pair on the top is pressed to the left and the pair on the bottom is pressed to the right.

It doesn’t really matter which way your first block is made, but you want to keep it the same for all blocks. 

Staying diligent in this step will help all of the seams to nestle together nicely when sewing the quilt blocks together to make the quilt top.

Sew the two pair to the bottom pair and press towards the top pair.

Repeat 29 times to make a total of 30 blocks.

Fast HST Baby Quilt

It doesn’t make for a lovely photo, but I find that the best way to get color/fabric placement spread out throughout the quilt, is to place the blocks on the very classy design floor.

While I have to work fast before my four-legged helper gets involved, I can rearrange the blocks to my heart’s content and hopefully have balanced quilt.

Sew the blocks into 6 rows of 5 blocks each. Then, sew the rows together to make a quick HST baby quilt!

Pin at every seam intersection and use a ¼” seam throughout.

Quilting and Binding

I made a pieced backing to use up some scrappy purple floral flannel and paired it with a solid gray flannel.

 I used straight line quilting to highlight the diagonal seams of the half square triangles.

And finally, I finished it all off with one of the bright pink fabrics from the HSTs for the quilt binding.