HSTs and piecing a baby quilt top with PFAFF performance icon

It’s time to put together the modern baby quilt! In yesterday’s post I added floating stitches as I sewed together the rectangle units. The PFAFF performance icon isn’t only full of built-in stitch techniques but is a great machine for precise sewing. Today I’ll sew half-square triangle units and put the top together.

PFAFF performance icon

Half Square Triangles (HSTs)

Make HSTs using pairs of Fabric Creations 100% cotton fabric 9 squares listed below:

  • 2 white and blue
  • 4 blue and green
  • 2 green and white
  1. Draw a diagonal line on the back of one fabric square with UNIQUE Quilter’s Fast Fade marker.

  1. Sew second fabric square to diagonal line fabric square, right sides together, by sewing ¼” away from each side of the drawn line.

  1. Cut on the drawn line to create 2 HSTs. Press the seam to the darker fabric.

  2. Trim each HST to 8½” square. 

You can read a post I wrote Two ways to trim larger Half Square Triangles without a square ruler with tips to help with trimming half-square triangles that are this big.

Trim half square triangles

Assemble the quilt top quadrants

Now that all the units are made, it’s time to start putting together the quilt top. I found it easiest to assemble one quadrant of the quilt at a time using my design wall. I also chose to use matching rectangle units in each quadrant.

Use the photos below to assemble each quadrant. I included arrows to show pressing directions for each seam in the rows and then how to press the rows together.

Top left quadrant

Top left quadrant layout and pressing directions

Top right quadrant

Top right quadrant layout and pressing directions

Bottom left quadrant

Bottom left quadrant layout and pressing directions

Bottom right quadrant

Bottom right quadrant layout and pressing directions

The bright LED lighting and the wide harp of the PFAFF performance icon makes it easy to spend time putting the modern baby quilt together.

Sewing blocks into rows with PFAFF performance icon

Assemble the quilt top

Sew the quadrants together and you’re done! The seams should nest easily on the quadrants. Sew the top quadrants together and press the seam to the right; sew the bottom quadrants together and press the seam to the left. Sew the top and bottom together and press the seam to the bottom quadrants.

Modern baby quilt

The quilt is ready to stitch on now. Thanks to the PFAFF performance icon this step went smoothly and quickly. More stitching awaits tomorrow!

This is part 3 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 2: Floating stitches on a modern baby quilt makes all the difference

Go to part 4: Radiant Stitches on the performance icon add joy to a baby quilt

Related posts

Stitch in the ditch AND grid quilting with the PFAFF IDT System – PERFECT!

On-point quilting: Where to start with cutting and setting triangles

Create or edit your stitches with the PFAFF performance icon