How come no one smacked me over the head with this stuff??
I mean, I'd heard about paper piecing, but never tried it.
HST paper is a piece of paper, or a document that you print onto paper, that you pin to fabric that is right sides together. You then sew on the sewing lines, and cut on the cutting lines when you are done sewing. You end up with x amount of HSTs that are fantastically accurate and symmetrical. AND, you didn't have to fidget with tons of little triangles if you want a small finished HST.
Let me go back to the beginning.
I joined a mystery quilt thing with my local guild last summer. We got 3 different steps for cutting and piecing before we got the final block placement for the quilt.
The excitement for my first mystery quilt was huge!
Step one, knocked out in no time.
Step two: cut strips 2 3/8" wide and cut into squares, then into triangles and make 96 - 1 1/2" HST (Half Square Triangles).
That means 192 - 2 3/8" squares people.
Yea, ain't gonna happen....
So, there it sat, patiently waiting. I received step three at the following guild meeting. There it still sat. I even got the last step (in an envelope, as not to temp me). There it sat. There was even a show and tell for this mystery quilt (yea, there goes the surprise... funny thing is I've already forgotten what the final quilt looks like... haha). And it still sat.
Then I decided to actually read the pattern beyond the cutting instructions (novel idea really...). Well, there was an alternative method... HST PAPER!!
GEEZ!!!
...Face plant...
Know how long it takes to sew 108 HST with the paper???
Less than an hour, that includes: getting on your computer, printing the paper, trimming it, cutting the large pieces of fabric, pinning, a few text messages, a dirty diaper, and a bathroom break.
That's right ladies and gentlemen, HST Paper is FANTASTIC!!
You should go try it out.
Go get a free download for 9 different sizes that you can print from home at Quilting and What Not.
Here's a few ideas of what you could make with just a few HSTs:
1. Finished">http://flickr.com/photos/29655571@N08/8213665846/">Finished Field Study half-square triangle chevron quilt
2. Triangles">http://flickr.com/photos/37715522@N00/7730805986/">Triangles Bag
3. Half">http://flickr.com/photos/39275021@N05/5405663993/">Half Square triangle cushions
4. half-square">http://flickr.com/photos/30302047@N04/5685349559/">half-square triangle placemats
5. http://flickr.com/photos/70531558@N00/4175569730/">{ geometric squares quilt }
6. Chevron">http://flickr.com/photos/16468558@N03/6721058653/">Chevron Half Square Triangle Values Quilt and Pillow
7. Triangle">http://flickr.com/photos/29745380@N05/9084659293/">Triangle Patch Box Pouch
8. Innocent">http://flickr.com/photos/35368186@N06/6792934278/">Innocent Crush Patchwork Pillow Cover
Good information! Thanks for sharing the photos. Could see myself in this scenario....reading the directions WAY LATER! I will try to do the HST printing. That was a helpful tip.
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