Trimming Half Square Triangles

I have released a couple of quilt patterns now and it's got me thinking about beginner quilters. I am in no way an expert, however, I would like to share some experience and try to help if you are just starting your quilting journey. My quilt patterns (as well as many other patterns and blogs) have good instructions for making half square triangles (HST). They are a nice easy and very versatile block, but they need to be trimmed properly to line up. Many instructions don't show trimming though and if you are new to patchwork you may be wondering how to trim your HSTs. 

Here is a quick little tutorial...

1. Press your seam open and lay your HST block onto a cutting mat. Place a quilting ruler on top, with the 45° angle line running along the seam.

2. Use a rotary cutter along the edge of your ruler to trim away the excess fabric. Make sure that the remaining block is big enough for the size of square you are trimming. In this photo the HST is to be trimmed to 3".

3. Once trimmed, turn your block so the trimmed edges are lined up against the measurement you are trimming to, with the 45° angle line running along the seam. 

4. Trim away the excess fabric, leaving a perfectly trimmed HST block.

5. Repeat for all of the other HSTs in your project.

I hope you find this helpful and keep checking back for more quick tutorials I'm hoping to add soon.

Mx