Six hundred and seventy two half square triangles, all made eight at a time.
That's Tangled Twist, a free half square triangle quilt pattern from Robert Kaufman in nine Kona Cotton solids. It finishes at 72 by 84 inches, a twin size, and it's built from 42 blocks of sixteen 3 inch triangle squares each. The cover rates it confident beginner: someone who has basic block construction down and wants to learn a new trick. The trick here is the Magic Eight, which turns two 8 inch squares into eight matching units in one pass. Below you'll find the download, how the two blocks work, the method, and two places where the numbers come up short.
Free Tangled Twist Quilt Pattern PDF Download
Seven pages, free, designed and published by Robert Kaufman Fabrics. It features Kona Cotton solids in two colorstories: Desert, shown on the cover, and Spring, on pages 6 and 7.
Pattern: Tangled Twist
Brand: Robert Kaufman Fabrics
Designer: Robert Kaufman Fabrics
Finished size: 72 x 84 inches
Size: twin
Difficulty: confident beginner, printed on the cover
Block: two 12 inch blocks, each a 4 by 4 grid of 3 inch half square triangles; 21 of each, alternated in seven rows of six
Technique: half square triangles made eight at a time, nested seams, no borders
Colors: nine Kona solids, a cream background with four neutrals in one block and two reds and two greens in the other
Precuts: none. The pattern is cut from yardage
You'll also need: a pencil for marking the diagonals and a ruler for trimming the units
Download the Tangled Twist pattern PDF
Two Blocks, One Unit
Every piece in this quilt is the same unit: a half square triangle that finishes at 3 inches, with the cream background on one side and a solid on the other. Eight colors pair with the cream, so there are eight kinds of triangle square.
The A block uses four of them, the neutrals: khaki, taupe, a light gray and charcoal, four units of each. The B block uses the other four: crimson, sienna, spruce and seafoam. Sixteen units go into four rows of four, and the block measures 12 1/2 inches when it's sewn. The way the units turn inside each block is what builds the chevrons, so follow the block diagrams on page 4 rather than the cutting list when you lay them out.
The pressing makes the seams nest. In each block, press the unit seams to the left in the odd rows and to the right in the even rows, then press the row seams open. When the blocks are joined, the same rule applies to the block seams, row by row. The pattern's quilt diagram on page 5 shows the orientation of every block, and it's worth keeping it next to the machine.
Eight at a Time
The method in the pattern is the one we call the Magic Eight. Mark both diagonals on the wrong side of an 8 inch cream square. Layer it right sides together with an 8 inch square of a solid, and sew a quarter inch away from both sides of both lines. Cut the square in half across and down, then cut each of the four small squares on its drawn line. That's eight units from one pair. Press toward the darker fabric and trim each unit to 3 1/2 inches.
One small error in the PDF: page 4 says "repeat with all remaining 7" squares." The squares are 8 inches. The cutting list and every other step say so.
The 8 inch cut is a little generous, and that's a good thing. In our Magic Eight tutorial, the sum is the finished size doubled plus 1 3/4 inches, which for 3 inch units is 7 3/4. The extra quarter inch gives you something to trim, and Yvonne works the same way: she cuts her squares generous and squares the units up at the end, which is easier than needing every line and every seam to be exact.
There's a second reason this method suits Tangled Twist. A Magic Eight unit has the bias in the seam and the straight of grain on its outer edges, as the same tutorial explains. This quilt has no borders, so the triangle squares sit right at the edge of the top, and straight grain there means an edge that's less likely to stretch while you bind it.
We Checked the Arithmetic
We check the numbers of every pattern we publish. The size adds up, and two parts come up short.
The size is right. Six 12 inch blocks across make 72 inches, and seven down make 84. There's no border, so that's the finished size.
The background comes up four squares short. Each of the eight solids goes into 21 blocks, four units a block, so the quilt needs 84 units of each pairing. At eight units a pass, that's 11 pairs of squares per color, which gives 88 units, and the pattern itself says you'll have 88 of each and use 84. But eight colors times 11 pairs is 88 cream squares, and the cutting list cuts 84 from Fabric A. Seventeen 8 inch strips give 85 squares, so you need an eighteenth strip. Eighteen strips use all 144 inches of the 4 yards, with nothing left to straighten the edge, so buy 4 1/4 yards of the background instead.
The binding comes up short too. The quilt measures 312 inches around, and Yvonne adds an extra 20 inches to that for turning the corners, as she shows in our straight binding tutorial. That's 332 inches. The pattern cuts eight 2 1/2 inch strips. Even at the full 44 inches each, eight strips joined with diagonal seams give about 334 inches, with almost nothing to spare, and at 42 inches of usable width they come to about 318. Cut nine. The spruce has room for the ninth strip.
The backing is comfortable. The pattern asks for 5 1/4 yards, which is two lengths of about 94 inches sewn side by side. That covers a 72 by 84 quilt with about 6 to 8 inches to spare at each side and about 5 at each end.
Fabrics and Palette That Suit This Pattern
Kona Cotton solids are still made, so the SKU list in the PDF still works as a shopping list if you want the Desert colorstory exactly. The Spring version uses the same yardages with nine different Kona colors.
The cream background is the biggest single fabric in the quilt, 4 yards of it in the pattern and more by our count, and it's what makes the chevrons read. Pick a light that's clearly lighter than every one of the eight solids.
The two blocks work because each set of four has its own range. The A block runs from a pale khaki down to charcoal, and the B block pairs a dark and a lighter red with a dark and a lighter green. Keep a spread of light and dark inside each set and the chevrons stay distinct from their neighbors. If you're unsure how light or dark a fabric is, our guide on fabric value, color and texture explains why value matters more than color.
If You Like This One
For more half square triangles from Robert Kaufman, Striped Squares is a beginner quilt built from them. Mahogany is another Kona solids quilt, in twelve reds. And if you'd like the other ways to make triangle squares side by side, our guide to half square triangle methods and sizes has all three with a size chart.
There are more in our free quilt patterns.
P.S. Make one pass of eight and trim them before you cut all 88 pairs. If the units won't trim to 3 1/2 inches, check your seam now, while it's eight units and not six hundred and seventy two.
