25+ Free Half Square Triangle Quilt Patterns: Learn Why Everyone Loves Them
Half square triangles (HSTs) are easily one of my favorite building blocks to keep in my scrap bin—mostly because they are just so incredibly versatile! It always amazes me how one simple shape can create everything from modern chevrons and traditional stars to snowflakes and windmills. If you’re just starting out, HSTs are a gentle way to practice your precision and learn how a pattern comes together. They’re forgiving and easy to work with.
Whether you’re looking for an excuse to go grab a fresh stack of charm squares or you’re finally ready to tackle that mountain of fabric scraps in your sewing room, there is a project here that will fit your weekend perfectly. From simple ‘first quilts’ to high-impact designs for the seasoned pro, I can’t wait to see which of these you decide to stitch up first.
Quick Comparison: My Top 5 Picks
I’m so excited to share one of my absolute favorite ways to sew! If you’ve been hanging around here for a while, you know I’m a huge fan of the humble half square triangle. It’s the building block for so many gorgeous designs, but let’s be honest—sewing them one by one can feel like it takes forever. That’s why I love using the 8-at-a-time HST method to speed things up! Whether you’re looking for a clean, modern minimalist look or a bold oversized HST quilt for your next picnic, these free quilt patterns will help you master the ‘HST’ while keeping the process fun and stress-free.
| Free HST Pattern | Highlighted Feature | Visual Style |
| Big Star Quilt | Quick Finish | Oversized & Graphic |
| Friendship Star Mini | Giftable Decor | Traditional/Classic |
| Fat Quarter Fancy | Fat Quarter Friendly | Scrappy & Vibrant |
| Scrappy HSTs | Stash Buster | Modern Scrappy |
| Tumbling Pineapples | Stash Buster | Playful & Dynamic |
First Time Quilter HST Guide
Half Square Triangles (HSTs) are a quiltmaker’s best friend! They are a building block in many classic and modern quilts. Know how to calculate, cut, and sew them, and you’ll be on your way to designing and sewing your own quilts!
- Here is a post for making 2-at-a-time HSTs. It contains helpful tips and tricks before tackling the task.
- Here is a link for my free printable HST paper. It contains a printable template, detailed instructions, and helpful photos for sewing HSTs 8-at-a-time. This is one way I make perfect 1 1/2” or 2” half square triangles for my quilt blocks every time!
- You can purchase pre-printed half square triangle templates (triangles on a roll) of all sizes. This is helpful if you can’t print your own and for sewing straight and consistent lines every time.
These free quilt patterns (all free, with step-by-step photo tutorials) are an especially great way to use up scraps, coordinating fabric bundles, or leftover hst units.
Helpful HST Articles You’ll Also Love:
- How to print foundation paper for perfectly accurate HST’s (free printable)
- How to sew half square triangles two at a time using the drawn line shortcut method
- How to make 4-at-a-time Flying Geese (another shortcut method)
My Favorite HST Shortcut
If you are looking for a shortcut option, the Accuquilt fabric cutter is a game changer! My HST pieces that I cut with my Accuquilt sew together faster and more accurately than anything else. No rulers or rotary cutter needed!
Most of the quilts below are Accuquilt friendly, which means I wrote the patterns to show how to cut your fabric with the dyes. Each pattern also includes other shortcut methods for sewing half square triangles as well. See all my Accuquilt friendly quilts.
Big & Bold HSTs (Modern & High Impact)
Big Star – Oversized HST Quilt
How big can a star quilt get? It’s up to you with my free Big Star Quilt Pattern. I used huge 8” half square triangle blocks so the quilt above finished at 64” x 64”. However, this pattern is easy to adjust and make other sizes too. The diagonal lines in this quilt add exciting movement and give you lots of fun shapes to quilt.
Style Guide
For a different look, use a contrasting print for the background fabric.
Giant Star Picnic Quilt
The blocks on the Giant Star quilt are so big that it comes together super fast! Oversized squares are a winning technique for a fast and exciting quilt.
Four Modern HST Quilt Designs
You’ll love how quickly you finish making these Modern HST Quilts. The diagonal seams will be easy when you sew the hst units two at a time. You can easily adapt this pattern to make quilts in different sizes too. My pattern is written for a 60″ square quilt using 12.5″ half square triangle blocks.
Bonus!
This quilt design is a Four-in-One; it’s like a BoGo but better! I will show you four different layouts for your finished HST units.
Sailing Away
My oldest son loves sailboats, and I had so much fun with the ocean part of this quilt. I’m excited to share it with you!
Sew an adorable modern baby quilt with sailboat blocks and a gorgeous ocean pieced with quarter square triangles! This easy baby quilt pattern includes tips for sewing fast and easy HSTs and quarter square triangles.
Giant Bear Paw
This beautiful quilt is beginner friendly and super quick. The oversized bear claw quilt block is made with a layer cake fabric bundle which cuts both the cutting and sewing time dramatically. Check out the free pattern and sew the best triangles around.
Pre Cut Fabric Bundle
Bonus: If you use 10″ layer cake precuts you can skip most of the cutting!
Stash Busters (Scrappy & Traditional Styles)
Summer Snowflake
The Summer Snowflake Quilt Pattern combines a pinwheel block and a star block to make a quilt that sparkles and shines! I made a special printable mat (and a short video) to help you layout your quilt blocks perfectly every time.
Tumbling Pineapples
Have you ever seen a scrappy pineapple? My Pineapple Fruit Quilt has bright summer pineapples made from leftover fabric scraps. I love how this turned out, and so do my friends! You can use what ever colors of scraps you like for your scrappy hst quilt. Tag me on Instagram @sewcanshe to show me how you made your pineapples.
Fat Quarter Fancy Quilt
My Fat Quarter Fancy Star Quilt Pattern is fat quarter friendly! It’s also perfect for your pile of scraps! It is made up of simple 4-patch blocks with squares and half square triangles. Plus, in this pattern, I’ll show you 3 amazingly different ways to arrange your blocks – all with stars!
With a simple 4” border, this queen size quilt is 88” x 88”. You can leave the border off if you like for a quilt that is 80” x 80”.
Bear Paw Quilt Pattern
This free quilt pattern with half-square triangles and squares on point is perfect for the fall and winter seasons. The Bear’s Paw quilt mainly uses the Art Square block and HSTs. Sew a few for your next log cabin vacation!
Five Patch Star
Make a traditional quilt block design look modern with the exciting 5 Patch Star Quilt Pattern. I sewed scrappy half square triangles cut from blue yardage throughout my stash. The Five Patch Star is my favorite picnic quilt!
Note on Cutting
Even though I used my Accuquilt to cut the pieces right sides together (a great time saver), this tutorial shows the 2-at-a-time HST method with a line drawn on half the squares.
Spools and Stars
Don’t you love the fabric I used on the Spools and Stars quilt? What colors will you use?
You only have to sew one block to make both the spools and the sawtooth stars which I consider a bonus. I love to play with different blocks to see what other shapes emerge. It finishes at 47” x 57”.
BOM Kitchen Sink Quilt Pattern
The Kitchen Sink Quilt Pattern was a block-of-the-month quilt, and now all of the individual blocks are available! Get the first part of the Kitchen Sink Quilt Pattern and enjoy sewing a new block as often as you like.
Friendship Star
The Friendship Star Block is a beloved favorite the world over! Sew a throw sized Friendship Star Quilt using this popular layout. The original design uses only 4 different fabrics, but you can use scrappy triangles to make it even more fun.
Fussy Cut Stars
Fussy Cut Stars quilt is a sweet design; I would sew it into a darling baby shower gift. Friendship Stars frame out small print elements and make for a fun and exciting project by Riley Blake Designs. The finished quilt is 55″ square.
Fussy Cut
Fussy cut means you pick a specific graphic on your fabric and cut it out. It usually creates some fabric waste (or just lovely scraps to use later).
Then you turn it into a focal point in your quilt block. Here is a quilt pattern that I made with a fussy cut dinosaur in a frame so you can see an example.
Charm Square Spools
What do you get when you combine black and white HSTs with a charm square bundle? The Charm Square Spool Quilt! This amazing quilt will turn out scrappy looking whether you use a charm square bundle or simply cut a bunch of 5” squares from your scrap bin. The black and white HSTs keep the pattern clean.
Finished quilt size: 71” x 71”.
Pre Cut Fabric Bundle
Bonus: If you use the 5″ charm squares you won’t need a square ruler! (But I love having them in lots of sizes anyway.)
Child’s Play Baby Quilt
Play with half square triangles in a fun way as you sew up the Child’s Play Baby Quilt Pattern. Everything you need to know to make this 42” square baby quilt is included in the blog post.
Scrappy HSTs
My darling Scrappy HST Baby or Lap Quilt is the perfect use for coordinating scraps that you have left over from a fat quarter project. That’s exactly why I made it! Also, the finished 34 1/2” x 46” size can easily be quilted on a regular sewing machine.
Style Guide
This design is easy to adjust larger if you want to make it for your bed or sofa; just keep adding blocks until it’s the size you want.
Sticking to muted colors is an easy way to get a minimalist vibe while still using scraps. If you want to tone it down even more, just use one color for the stars, and a clean light fabric for the background .
Coming Soon! Hourglass Puzzle Quilt
The free quilt pattern for this gorgeous quilt will be released in April of 2026 because it was the October sewing challenge on our new sewing community app, The SewCanShe Sewing Bee Community. I would love for you to join us there!
It’s the perfect place to find belonging in the sewing world. Among other activities, members are invited to showcase their creations, providing inspiration and fostering a sense of camaraderie. Come see where you fit in!
Quick & Sweet (Minis & Seasonal Decor)
Criss Cross by: Nadra Ridgeway
Here’s my Criss Cross mini quilt. I absolutely love it! Nadra’s instructions are excellent so whether you choose soft colors (like she did) or bright ones like mine – I know you’ll love yours too. Finished size is 12½” x 12½”
Little Trees
Scrappy HSTs turn into a forest of trees in my Little Trees Quilt. It’s a great beginner friendly quilt, and you can gift or display it for any occasion regardless of the colors you use!
This quilt pattern uses big blocks for fast piecing; I love a good shortcut and sometimes you just need to get it finished.
Friendship Star Mini Quilt
I designed this mini to be the first one in my Monthly Mini Quilts series, and I’m calling it the ‘Friendship Mini’ because there’s a classic mini Friendship Star in the middle. If you’ve never made a quilt before, this is a great one to start with. All you will need is 16 HST units and 9 squares.
Adalee’s Garden
Adalee’s Garden uses small panels and Shoofly Blocks in a precious design. Half Square Triangles add the colorful elements in an interesting way. I hope you enjoy sewing this beautiful quilt. The quilt finishes at 55″ square.
Add This Border to Any Panel
When I took Nikki to her first quilt retreat, I tossed this to her and cheerfully declared, “Le Buddies! It’s my new car quilt.” It really is a perfect size for a car-ride lap quilt, and we had a lot of fun at our retreat.
Here is the free pattern to add a border and stars to any panel to make it into a usable (and fun) quilt. You will only sew triangles to make the corner stars and the rest is simple straight lines.
Mini HST Heart
Show love any time of the year with a darling HST Heart Quilt wall hanging. This pattern is also so easy to customize and make larger or smaller depending on the size of half square triangles that you sew. I love scrappy quilts like this! Tag me on Instagram @sewcanshe to show me what you did with your scrappy heart!
More from SewCanShe:
45+ Beginner Quilt Patterns So Easy You Can Sew In A Weekend
Every Free Sewing Pattern SewCanShe Released in 2025: Full Recap
10+ Best Quilt Panel Patterns to Make a Stunning Quilt in Record Time
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