A half square triangle looks like the simplest unit in quilting: two squares, one seam, one cut. Karen Brown of Just Get it Done Quilts breaks it into seven separate challenges, and each one is a place where your points can quietly slip away.
The first challenge comes before any cutting. If your fabric is off grain, Karen pulls it on the bias to bring it back square, because a square cut from skewed fabric will not stay square for long.
The second is the cut size. The usual rule is to add 7/8 inch to the finished size. Karen adds a full inch, and she suggests beginners add 1¼. Her reasoning is short: "ease of construction beats out conserving fabric every time." The extra comes off at the end.
From there she works through the diagonal, using the 45-degree line on her mat and marking with a pen when she makes them two at a time, with a ridge of painter's tape on her ruler as a guide. For the seam, a strip of low-tack washi tape on the machine bed, set just to the right of the quarter inch, gives her a scant quarter. At the ironing board she presses to set the seam, then pushes the iron across it without dragging.
Trimming is where the extra inch pays off. She trims every unit to the finished size plus ½ inch with a ruler that has a tape ridge of its own.
The last challenge is endurance. She once made 150 in a week, and her advice is to work in batches of 8 or 16, take breaks and drink water.
If you want the size chart and the faster methods Karen saves for another day, our guide to how to make half square triangles covers two, four and eight at a time. More of her tutorials are on the Just Get it Done Quilts channel.
