Free Half Square Triangle Quilt Patterns: A Quilter’s Guide
One of my favorite fabric scrap pieces to keep around the sewing room is the humble yet versatile half square triangle (HST). You can use a half square triangle quilt pattern to create a nearly endless variety of quilt patterns, from traditional secondary patterns to modern, geometric designs.
Do you have lots of scraps to use? Perfect! Scraps are a great resource for making HSTs—especially for projects like the Climbing Roses quilt block or a classic Sawtooth Star. These units look great as tiny visual elements in a complex border or as a giant focal point in a minimalist quilt. This collection of 25+ designs demonstrates how a single, simple block can be transformed into a professional, exciting finish.
Printable HST Papers & Sewing Shortcuts
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 units.
My Favorite Shortcut
If you are looking for a shortcut option, the Accuquilt fabric cutter is a game changer! The pieces that I cut with my Accuquilt sew together faster and more accurately than anything else. No rulers or rotary cutter needed!
Most of my 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.
NEW Hourglass Puzzle Free Quilt Pattern
Did you know that half square triangles are the building block for the hourglass quilt block? The Hourglass Puzzle free throw quilt pattern uses a single block design repeated in different color combinations to make a fabulous medallion style throw quilt. This 76” x 76” quilt comes together quickly because of the large blocks.
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.
Bear Paw Quilt Pattern
This free quilt pattern with HSTs and squares on point is perfect for the all seasons. The Bear’s Paw quilt mainly uses the Art Square block and HSTs. Sew a few for your next log cabin vacation. You’ll love having it for the road trip!
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 on mine and I love how it turned out. The diagonal lines in this quilt add exciting movement and give you lots of fun shapes to quilt.
Finished quilt size: 64” x 64” -However, this pattern is easy to scale up or down.
Giant Star Picnic Quilt
The blocks on the Giant Star quilt are so big that you can piece it in just a few hours! Oversized squares are a winning technique for a quick quilt. I’m ready for a picnic already!
Four Modern Quilt Designs in One Pattern
You’ll love how quickly you finish making these four 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.
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.
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. The pattern includes instructions for a table runner and placemats too.
Finished quilt size: 55″ square.
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.
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!
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 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”.
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.
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 quilt. Tag me on Instagram @sewcanshe to show me how you made your pineapples.
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.
Finished quilt size: 47” x 57”
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 keeps the pattern clean.
Finished quilt size: 71” x 71”.
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.
Finished quilt size: 55″ square
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 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, this size quilt can easily be quilted on a regular sewing machine.
The free quilt pattern includes rotary cutting instructions PLUS optional AccuQuilt cutting instructions for the fastest, most accurate cutting and piecing ever.
Finished quilt size: 34 ½” x 46”
Little Trees
Sew a scrappy 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.
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 quilt size: 12½” x 12½”
Mini Heart Quilt
Show love any time of the year with a darling 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!
Add This Border to Any Panel
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.
Articles to Bookmark for Reference:
- 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)
More from SewCanShe:
Jelly Roll Quilt Pattern Guide: 20 Easy & Free Designs
15 Free & Easy Quilt Patterns for Beginners (Yes, Even You!)
Disclosure: some of my posts contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of those links I may receive a small commission, so thank you for supporting SewCanShe when you shop! All of the opinions are my own and I only suggest products that I actually use. 🙂