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Today we are going to learn about Half Rectangle Triangle (HRT) units!! This Half Rectangle Triangle Tutorial will require no special rulers. You probably know what Half Square Triangle units are- we use them A LOT in quilting. They look like this:
(For my HST tutorial and cheat sheet, please click here.)
HRT’s look similar, but are, well, rectangles instead of squares. This method requires no special rulers or equipment, other than a rotary cutter, ruler, and freezer paper. If you are making the I Love Home Block of the Month, you will find this tutorial very useful!
Below you will find my tutorial for making these units. I also have a video, which you may find easier to follow:
Note that this video tutorial shows you the technique for making the units- refer to your pattern for the correct size to cut your rectangles and templates.
Here is how to make perfect Half Rectangle Triangle units!
To figure out what size rectangles to cut, take the FINISHED size of your HRT unit, and add 1 1/2″ to the short measurement, and 1 3/4″ to the long measurement. For example:
For a finished size of unit 4 x 5″ (4 1/2 x 5 1/2″ including seam allowance) —> cut your rectangles 5 1/2 x 6 3/4″
Draw a line diagonally down the center of one of the rectangles. NOTE that it’s important to draw the line going to correct direction! Draw a line 1/4″ on each side of the center line. (A tool which I find very useful, but not required, for both HST’s and HRT’s is a 1/4″ seam marker, which can be found here. )
Now we need to sew our rectangles together. If you’ve made HST’s before, you may be tempted to just place the rectangles together and sew together as you would for HST’s:
However, if you do that, you will get a weird kite shaped unit, which is not what we want!
Place the rectangles right sides together like this:
Sew on the “side” lines that you’ve drawn (the lines which are 1/4″ away from the center line; this process is like making HST’s).
Before cutting the triangles apart, I like to flip them open, to make sure that they look the way I want them to. Note that because I drew the lines in opposite directions for these, the red triangles in the HRT’s are a mirror image of each other. No matter how I rotate the unit, I cannot get the red triangles to be in the same position:
Once I know that the units are going the way I want them to go, I cut on the center line, and press my units.
Now I need to trim my units. To do this, cut a rectangle from freezer paper which is the size that I want the finished unit to be (not including seam allowance.) For example, if I want my rectangle to be 4 x 5″ in my project (4 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ including seam allowance, before I sew into my project), I will cut my freezer paper template 4 x 5″.
Draw a line diagonally on the non-shiny side of the freezer paper.
Line up the line on the template with the seam of the HRT and iron to fuse in place.
Use a ruler and rotary cutter to trim 1/4″ from the edge of the template.
Peel off the freezer paper. The freezer paper is reusable so you can use it to trim your other units (though the line may be going the wrong way, just draw another line going the opposite direction if necessary.)
You will notice that the seam is offset a tiny bit at the corners, this will make sure that your seam allowance is correct when you sew it into your project:
You now have perfect HRT units!
Looks difficult but probably isn’t.
Bookmarking this! Thanks, this will be so useful.
Excellent tutorial.
Fabulous instructions! Thank you!
What a great technique! I recently fell in love with a quilt in a magazine that required a special ruler so you could make 2.5″ HST using the jelly roll, which we all know is 2.5″ wide. It was such a pain – had I read everything through first, I would have used wider width fabric strips. I love this technique you’ve shown and think it might have helped with the quilt I just mentioned. Thanks!
Excellent, Jacquelynne! Thank you
Thank you. Very clear instructions.
Fab video, thanks so much :)
Perhaps I am having a bad hair day….trying to make a PDF with my iPad of the HRT tutorial. It actually sent me to download Print Fruendly App. Now I can’t seem to get back there to where it said could make the PDF. Am wishing my laptop was here right now…..
Thanks!!!
Genius, Jacquelynne! Thank you for a wonderful and easy technique w/o specialty rulers. So much appreciated.
Genius, Jacquelynne! Thanks so much for this great tutorial.
Thank you for this! I tried to do this years ago and came out with kites. Never tried it again. Looking forward to trying it now!
Well done Jacquelynne for researching and working so hard to make HRT’s work, your video is very easy to understand. I am a newbie at quilting but I have bought a quarter inch ruler and it has already paid for itself with time saved in marking my HST’s, so I know it will be a great help with HRT’s as well.
I love this method!!! THANK YOU for taking the time to share it. I bookmarked the page, so that when I am in need, I will likely succeed with your help!
How do you bookmark.
thank-you for this tutorial, seems so easy after you’ve explained it. :-)
I have used this method a lot and you gave a clear and concise tutorial. The only difference is how I trim after sewing. Instead of cutting and ironing with freezer paper, I cut a rectangle of a piece of relatively thin fabric that you can see through and position it on my sewn piece. It is an efficient time-saver.
Well! I’ll be darned!! I had no clue about this but you can guarantee that I’m going to save this pin and share it with my quilting friends!!! Thank you!
Excellent tutorial. When you think you know all ways to cut pieces, there is always a new one to learn. Thank you for including this in the Save The Bees block. I love learning new techniques. Thank you. It was easy to follow.
Thank you very much for the tutorial. I had never made
HRS was my first . Love learning new things. Again thank you.
Can’t wait to get started sewing again. I’m getting so excited!!
How do you get the “slightly offset” corners? It looks like you have lined up the diagonal line perfectly with the seam line before you cut it. What am i missing?
Its berauscht of the seamallowance
Wish you also had a cheat sheet for the Rectangles. That to would be handy to have.Thank you for the one of the HST .
This is just what I needed. I am working on a round robin quilt with a group of friends and Needed to know how to make half rectangle triangles for my block. Hurrah!!! You saved a lot of my time by showing me how to do it.
I am trying to make an HRT that has a finished size of 2″x 7″. So I cut my fabric 3 1/2″ x 8 3/4″ Sewed the diagonals, cut them apart, pressed the seams to one side. Cut freezer to 2″x 7″, drew the diagonal and ironed it on the rectangle but I don’t have enough fabric to get a 1/4″ seam allowance. HELP!
Thank you for all the instruccions your very kine.
Thank you so much for the step by step, I really need this and everything was so simply explained, Thanks again. love the bom