Hourglass Puzzle: Free Half Square Triangle Quilt Pattern!

Old fashioned quilt blocks can be beautiful and modern when you sew them with new fabric! This free throw quilt pattern uses a single Hourglass Quilt Block design repeated in different color combinations to make a fabulous medallion style throw quilt. It comes together quickly because of the large blocks.

When making this quilt, you’ll learn a shortcut method to half square triangles. The finished size is approximately 76” x 76” – perfect for snugging up on the couch!

The blog post below is totally free to read, print, and sew! Just hit CTRL +P on your computer to print. There is an optional PDF download offered at the end of the post. Join our Sewing Bee Community for access to over 300 PDF patterns (including this one), live workshops, premium video courses, and more.

By rotating the blocks, a secondary star pattern appears This also gives it the medallion quilt look. Everyone loves a star quilt!

If you love to use your AccuQuilt fabric cutter like I do, I’ll share the optional cutting die numbers to make this pattern Accuquilt-friendly. Using an Accuquilt is optional, but I love it! See all my Accuquilt-friendly quilts. Look under the cutting dimensions below for a list of fabric-cutting dies you may use instead.

Hourglass Puzzle Quilt Block

This easy quilt block design has hourglass shapes made with half square triangle pieces. Another name for this block is old maid’s puzzle.

The free quilt pattern below is for a square quilt with 16 hourglass blocks and a border.

Check out all my free quilt patterns here!

How to choose fabrics for the Hourglass Puzzle Quilt

I used EQ8 Quilt Design Software to see what the Hourglass Puzzle quilt would look like in so many different fabrics. I finally decided to use my stash of Florida from Ruby Star Society. I love how it turned out, but since these fabrics are no longer available, I made the illustrated quilt diagrams with solid colors to help you pick your fabrics.

I suggest picking 3 colors that look good together and then finding light and dark fabrics in each color.

For example, my fabrics are:

• light and dark gray
• light and dark turquoise
• light and dark orange

The only other fabric you need for this quilt is a solid or blender fabric for the background (I chose a solid cream colored fabric). If you want to use scraps and a solid background fabric, this quilt would be totally budget friendly!

How to Sew the Hourglass Puzzle Quilt

Finished quilt size: 76” x 76”.

Finished block size 16” x 16”.

The great things about this HST star quilt pattern are:

• There are only 16 super easy and quick blocks.
• All of the pieces are squares andhalf square triangles (HSTs) and I’m going to show you my shortcut HST method for sewing two at a time.
• This quilt would be great for beginner quilters making their first quilt
• As written, this quilt pattern makes a wonderful throw quilt, but you could easily add more blocks to make it bigger.

You will need:

• 3/8 yard dark gray fabric
• 1/4 yard lighter gray fabric
• 1/2 yard dark orange fabric
• 1/4 yard light orange fabric
• 3/8 yard dark turquoise fabric
• 1/2 yard light turquoise fabric
• 4 1/8 yards background fabric
• 5/8 yard binding fabric
• 4 1/4 yards backing fabric, or enough to piece together an 81” x 81” square
• an 81” x 81” piece of quilt batting
• a rotary cutter, acrylic ruler, and mat
• sewing machine
• thread (I suggest thread matching the background fabric)

Cutting:

From the dark gray fabric, cut:

• 16 squares 5” x 5”

From the lighter gray fabric, cut:

• 4 squares 8 7/8” x 8 7/8”

From the dark orange fabric, cut:

• 8 squares 8 7/8” x 8 7/8”

From the light orange fabric, cut:

• 4 squares 8 7/8” x 8 7/8”

From the dark turquoise fabric, cut:

• 12 squares 5” x 5”

From the light turquoise fabric, cut:

• 20 squares 5” x 5”

From the cream colored fabric (or other background fabric), cut:

• 64 squares 4 1/2” x 4 1/2”
• 48 squares 5” x 5”
• 32 squares 4 7/8” x 4 7/8”
• 2 border strips 6 1/2” x 64 1/2”*
• 2 border strips 6 1/2” x 76 1/2”*

* Border tips:

• You will need to piece strips together to make the border.
• I highly recommend that you do not cut your border strips now. Instead, wait until the center of the quilt top is finished so you can measure it and sew accurate borders. See how to measure and cut accurate quilt borders.

Binding fabric:

• cut 8 strips 2 1/2” (or 2 1/4”) x width of fabric (40-42’’)

How to Sew the Hourglass Puzzle Quilt Block:

Use a scant 1/4’’ seam allowance and a medium stitch length such as 2-2.5.

Make 96 Half Square Triangle Units (HSTs)

1. Use a pencil, pen, or fabric pen to draw a diagonal line across the back of all of the background colored 5’’ squares. This is a cutting line – not a sewing line.

2. Place a background fabric square right sides together with a dark gray square. Sew in a straight line a scant 1/4’’ away from either side of the drawn line.

If you have an even feed or walking foot, you might like it for this step – I do!

3. Cut the half square triangles apart along the drawn line. Press each one open and trim to 4 1/2’’ square.

Repeat to make:

• 32 dark gray and background fabric half square triangles
• 24 dark turquoise and background fabric half square triangles
• 40 light turquoise and background fabric half square triangles

Tip: BlocLoc HST Rulers are fun to use and make trimming HSTs a breeze.

Make 32 Small Hourglass Blocks

1. Arrange two 4 1/2” squares and two matching half square triangles as shown. Sew each half square triangle to a background square. Press. Then sew the two pieces together to make an 8 1/2” square hourglass block and press.

2. Repeat to make:

• 16 light turquoise hourglass blocks
• 16 dark gray hourglass blocks

Make 32 Small and Big Flying Goose Blocks

1. Cut all of the 4 7/8” x 4 7/8” squares and 8 7/8” x 8 7/8” squares in half diagonally.

2. Sew a light turquoise half square triangle piece to a background fabric triangle as shown. Press. Trim away the small dog ear corner at the bottom edge, if desired.

3. Sew a background fabric triangle to the lower edge of the half square triangle piece, as shown. Press.

4. Sew a light orange triangle to the piece, as shown. Press. Trim away the small dog ear corners.

5. Repeat to make:

• 8 light turquoise and light orange blocks
• 16 dark turquoise and dark orange blocks
• 8 dark turquoise and light gray blocks

Assemble the Hourglass Puzzle Blocks

1. Lay out 4 pieces as shown. Sew the pieces together in two rows. Press. Sew the rows together to make a block. Press.

Make 4 light orange and light turquoise blocks.

2. Make 8 dark orange, dark turquoise, light turquoise, and dark gray blocks.

3. Make 4 light gray, dark turquoise, and dark gray blocks.

Trim and square your blocks to 16 1/2”, if desired.

Assemble the Quilt Top

1. Lay out your quilt blocks on using a quilt design wall, on a bed, or on the floor.

2. Sew the blocks together in four rows. Press.

3. Sew the four rows together. Press.

4. Attach the borders. Sew the 6 1/2” x 64 1/2” border strips to the sides of the quilt. Sew the 6 1/2” x 76 1/2” border strips to the top and bottom edges of the quilt.

Tip: Instead of using the specified lengths for the border strips, I recommend measuring your quilt and using the actual measurements as I show in this blog post. This helps to prevent wavy quilt borders or puckering where the borders are attached.

Finishing your Hourglass Puzzle Quilt

1. Cut or piece together an 81” x 81” piece of backing fabric and make a quilt sandwich with the backing, batting, and top.

2. Baste together with fusible batting, pins or basting spray.

3. Quilt as desired. Straight line quilting with your walking foot would be fast and easy.

4. Cut 8 binding strips and bind using your favorite method. This is my favorite quilt binding method.

Happy quilting,