Gemstone

Hi friends!

This week I am sharing tips on making Gemstone- specifically tips on making Half Rectangle Triangles!

Gemstone is a really fun quilt that looks like it is made up of diamonds. Here is a version I recently made using a wonderful line from QT fabrics called Blissful Blooms.

Blissful Blooms is an Ink & Arrow collection for QT Fabrics by Cynthia Frenette – shipping in January to shops.

But the quilt is actually made up of Half Rectangle Triangles! So it is much easier to put together than you might think.

Half Rectangle Triangles

What are Half Rectangle Triangles (HRT)?

They are similar to HST (Half Square Triangles) in that half of the unit is a triangle of one fabric and the other half is another fabric. Just instead of being a square, the shape is a rectangle to the triangles are long.

And you can make them where the lower fabric is all the same.

Or you can make 2 different units which is what we need for this quilt.

Tips on Half Rectangle Triangles

And while their construction is similar there is one distinct thing that makes piecing them different.

What is that? Well, first, when making 2 at once, the rectangles are not lined up together. Instead the top one is tilted.

And, instead of trimming the units so the points meet in the corner, you have to have a slight offset.

That offset means that you will have lovely points later. I have already done of full blog post on these units where I show how to trim using a regular ruler- click here to read more. But what if you want to use a specialty ruler?

Tools for Trimming

First, if you want to start with the triangles already cut, then tools like the Tri Recs ruler, The Quilters Select 60 degree triangle set or the Creative Grids Perfect Rectangle tool will cut the shapes for you. Then you can just sew the triangles together.

Or you can use the 2 at once method (like in Gemstone), cut them apart and trim the units to size.

There are a lot of tools out there; just find the one that works for you. Some have their own process from start to finish so they work best when you follow their instructions.

For me, I like to make 2 at once and then often use the Bloc_Loc ruler to trim.

I find it easy to use and while I don’t follow all their instructions, it still works for me. There are 2 rulers in the set, A and B for trimming the opposite units.

Other rulers that I have heard good things about is HuRTY from Latifah Saafir, the Creative Grids Half Rectangle Trim tool and Deb Tucker’s Split Rec tool.

Have you ever made Half Rectangle Triangles? If not, try them! They really aren’t hard!

Sewing the HRT units together

For the Gemstone quilt, you just sew 4 of the HRT units together. No real trick other than pressing one set of HRT units to one fabric and pressing the other set to the opposite fabric. (YIKES! I pressed to the light?)