Half-Rectangle Units Tutorial

The sails in this block from my Sailing School pattern are made from HRT units

Here, as promised, is my tutorial about making half-rectangle triangle units (HRT) without specialty rulers. This method does involve a bit of fabric waste as the units are made a little over-sized, then trimmed down.  I think the little bit of trimming waste in exchange for ease and accuracy is worth it.

Traditionally, the HRT is twice as tall as it is wide, so those are the dimensions I worked with.

Here goes!

Step 1:  Determine the desired finished size of the unit. (Remember that the finished size is the size in the finished project, after the seam allowance is taken up by sewing the unit into the project.)

Step 2: You will need two rectangles of fabric. To determine the width of the cut rectangles:

• For the cut width, add 1 1/4" to the desired finished width.
• The cut height will be double the cut width.

Step 2:  Cut two rectangles

 Step 3: Mark a diagonal line on one of the rectangles.  Careful!  The direction of the line matters.

• For a left-leaning seam on the finished unit (from upper left corner to lower right corner), draw the line from the top right corner to the lower left corner.

• For a right-leaning seam on the finished unit (lower left corner to upper right corner), draw the line from the top left corner to lower right corner.

Step 4:  (optional ) You will actually stitch 1/4" away from the marked line in Step 7. You may wish to draw additional lines now,  1/4" on each side of the diagonal,  to mark where to stitch.  If you have an accurate 1/4" presser foot as a guide you can skip this part.

Steps 3 and 4:  Mark one rectangle

Step 5: Place the marked rectangle on top of the second rectangle, right sides together.  So far this looks very much like the technique used to make HST.  However, if you now simply sew 1/4" on each side of the diagonal, you will end up with a kite shape rather than a rectangle shape.

Step 5: Layer rectangles right sides together

Not how you want it to turn out. Move on to step 6.

Step 6: Rotate the marked rectangle:

• to the left (counterclockwise) for a left-leaning finished unit, so that the upper right corner shifts to touch the upper left of the bottom rectangle, and the lower left corner shifts to touch the lower right corner of the bottom rectangle.

• to the right (clockwise) for a right leaning finished unit, so that the upper left corner shifts to touch the upper right of the bottom rectangle, and the lower right corner shifts to touch the lower left corner of the bottom rectangle.

Step 6: Rotate marked rectangle

To check that you have rotated in the correct direction, fold the top rectangle along the marked diagonal, and see if the result is approximately the HRT you plan to make.

Check orientation

Step 7: Sew 1/4" on either side of the marked line, then cut on the marked line.  

Step 7: Sew then cut into two units

Step 8: Press seams to one side or open, as you prefer. You now have two rough units ready for trimming perfectly to size.

Step 8:  Two untrimmed HRT units

Next, you'll need to trim these.  The tricky part is to position that diagonal seam correctly in the trimmed unit so that points don't disappear into the seam allowance when you sew this unit into your quilt.  The diagram below shows what happens when you place the seam corner to corner.  The seam, shown as a dashed line, cuts off points on the short ends of the unit.

What you want to avoid

I've found that using a template to guide my trimming gives me the best results.

PREPARE A TRIMMING TEMPLATE

Step 9:  Draw a rectangle exactly the same size as your desired finished unit.  

Step 10:  Using a rotary cutter and ruler, cut out the shape 1/4" outside the drawn shape all around.

Step 10: Cut out template

Step 11:  Draw a diagonal between two opposite corners of the drawn inside shape in the direction of the seam in your finished unit, extending the line all the way out to the edges of the cut shape.  Note that this diagonal does not intersect the corners of the cut shape.

Step 11: Tape the template on the underside of your quilting ruler, with the template flush with the corner of the ruler, and the drawn line visible through the ruler.

Step 12:  Position the template over the rough unit so that the drawn diagonal lines up with the seam in the unit.  

Step 12: Position the template

Step 13: Use a rotary cutter to trim the unit along the side and top edges of the ruler.

Step 13: Trim two edges

Step 14:  Rotate the unit.  Position the ruler so the markings for the required unfinished size line up with the trimmed edges.  

Step 14:  Position ruler to trim remining sides

Notice that the seam will not fall exactly in the corner of the ruler.

Seam will not go through corner of the ruler

Step 15:  Keeping the ruler in position, use a rotary cutter to trim the remaining sides of the unit.

The unit is now ready to use. The area outside the black outline in the image below is the seam allowance.  The area inside the black rectangle will be the finished unit as it will appear in your finished project, with the points in the corners where you want them.

I hope you have found this helpful.  Now go play with some half-rectangle triangle units!

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You can use HRT in many ways.  The sailboat block at the top of this post, and again below, is what made me sit down and figure out HRTs.

This version is 9" square.  If you'd like to make it but would prefer to skip all the math and drawing of templates, I've done the work for you in my Sailing School pattern.  See more of that quilt in this post.

You can purchase a PDF download of the pattern in my Etsy shop, or you can ask your favourite quilt shop to order a print copy for you.

Happy quilting!

Joanne

Just in case sailboats aren't your thing...

I really enjoyed making Sailing School and wanted to make more strip-pieced waves, but I didn't need two sailboat quilts.  I played with different block option to replace the boat, and of course I defaulted to stars.  There's just something about stars!  In this case, they bring to mind light sparkling on waves crests, so I named this quilt Bright Seas.

The star design may seem familiar.  I used it most recently in Stellar Stacks.  

I really like this particular star design for two reasons.  First, the proportions are a little bit different than those of a traditional sawtooth star block.  I like that they are a bit less square, yet not as complex as a Lemoyne star.  Second, the block construction is very forgiving.  There there are no seams crossing the points or valleys in the star, and while you can match seams to line up the points on the center, it won't be obvious if you're off a little bit.  There are also no triangles to cut and no bias edges to sew.

Aren't these fabrics beautiful? These batiks are from the Calm Lagoon collection, Sherry Shish of Powered by Quilting's newest signature collection from Island Batik.  As always, Island Batik fabrics were lovely to work with.  They're crisp to work with but drape beautifully in the finished quilt.  Starting on December 1st, Sherry is hosting a blog tour to highlight this collection.  I'm not participating this time, but I encourage you to go take a peek.  There will certainly be lovely eye candy.

As in Sailing School, these waves were strip-pieced, so they were quick to make.  The fabrics are distributed in the strips and two different blocks to appear well-distributed without having to shuffle pieces around on the design wall.  That also contributed to making this quilt a quick finish.

While my version is definitely beach and ocean themed, I think this design would lend itself to any color scheme.  At this time of year, my thoughts are turning to red, green, silver and gold.  I may need to go play with that idea.  There's always room for a new Christmas quilt, right?

I'll leave you with a question.  What's your favourite star block and why?

You can  pick up a PDF version of the Bright Seas pattern in my Etsy shop, or ask for a print version at your favourite quilt shop.

I miss the ocean - so I made a quilt

I spent my teens and early adulthood in Nova Scotia, never too far from the ocean.  There's nothing like the smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves breaking on the shore.  Since moving to Iowa, I have learned to appreciate a different kind of natural beauty, but I still miss the waves.  

The summer of 2020 was supposed to take me back to Nova Scotia for a visit. I had the plane reservations all set,  but we all know what happened with 2020!  The trip was cancelled, and I didn't get to see family or the shore.  Maybe that influenced my designing that fall.  I missed the sea and I missed family, and though I wasn't dwelling on that, my mind still created this:

Sailing School by Canuck Quilter Designs

I am so happy to finally share this finish, because it's one of my favourite recent quilts.  I had to wait a whole year to share this finish, until the Island Batik Sail Away collection I used was available in stores.  Island Batik sent me advance sampling to make the quilt for their Spring/Summer 2021 catalog.  I love that the collection has a range of blues, as well as prints in different scales to add visual interest.  that pop of red is great too!

There's a bit of a wave in there, and did I mention my dad loves to sail?  (If you've been following this blog for  a while you might remember this quilt I made for him, also with a sailboat theme.) 

Those waves units are strip-pieced, so it didn't take very long to make this quilt.  I didn't even have to shuffle pieces around on the design wall in search of the perfect arrangement.  If you look closely, you'll see they are in a particular repeating order, listed in the pattern, but I think at first glance the pieces look pretty well distributed in a faux-random kind of way.

Closeup of Sailing School by Canuck Quilter Designs

I learned all about half rectangle triangles to design this sailboat block.  I wanted to be able to make it without paper piecing and without specialty tools.  In the end, I made them oversized, and added  templates to trim them properly.  (Spoiler alert: you can't trim with the diagonal running directly through the corners, or you'll end up wit cut off points.)  I do have a tutorial in the works.  It's much later than anticipated, as other priorities popped up, as they often do.  I promise it's coming, though!  It's about 3/4 ready, so how much longer could it possibly take?  Now I've jinxed it!

(Update:  The tutorial is now available here!)

Sailing School by Canuck Quilter Designs. 
Photo by Jerry Khiev of Island Batik.

 I didn't have much time to make this before they needed to be at the Island Batik warehouse so they could take the photo above for the catalog.  I had two other quilts to make for them on the same deadline, so I didn't have time to quilt them myself.  Liz Meimann helped me out with a really quick turnaround time for longarm quilting. 

Did I just pique your curiosity about the other two quilts?  I'll share those soon!  

Happy quilting!

Joanne

The Sailing School pattern is listed in my Etsy shop as a PDF download.  If you prefer a print copy, ask your favourite quilt shop to order one for you.  I sell wholesale to shops through my website and through major distributors.