Making and Trimming Extra large HRTs

My Juneflower pattern features some really large blocks, including extra large half-rectangle triangles in the throw-sized version, and if you’re wondering how to heck you’re going to trim those things, you’ve come to the right place!

Things you’ll need: an extra long ruler (at least 18”), thin poster board (you can use something else, but this is what I prefer), a fine marking tool, and optionally, a quarter-inch ruler.

Let’s start with a few tips on making these things. They can be made exactly like regular sized HRTs, but you’ll need an extra long ruler (I use a 6”x24” ruler) to mark the diagonal line from corner to corner. I like go back with my 12” long quarter-inch ruler to mark exactly where I need to sew, especially for these big blocks, but that’s just my preference.

Mark diagonal line from corner to corner using a ruler at least 18” long.

Optional: I like to go back and add the seam line with my quarter-inch ruler (it’s not long enough to use all by itself without first marking that diagonal line running corner to corner).

Pro tip: Anytime you’re marking a line you’re going to sew on (e.g. using a quarter-inch ruler, or for stitch-and-flip), sew just a hair to the inside of that line (towards the cut line in the center, in this case, or towards the edge you’ll be trimming off, for stitch-and-flip). You’ll end up with a scant quarter-inch seam allowance and a smidgen of breathing room when you go to trim up your HRTs (or your stitch-and-flip units, if that’s what you’re up to).

At this point, you can follow the instructions in the Juneflower pattern to make the HRTs. And if you’re wondering how many pins you’re going to need for these massive suckers, honestly, I haven’t had a lot of trouble sewing them together with minimal pins. Clips, really. I just use clips. I know some of y’all might pass out when you see it, but here’s a pic of how I clip them:

Yep, I get them situated with just four little clips. That fabric is starched (before I ever cut into it, that is), so it holds pretty well, and I haven’t had any problem using just this minimal clipping scheme. Add as many pins as you like, though. To each her own. (For the regular size HRTs, I don’t clip or pin at all.) I will say, though, that I tend to go slowly anytime I’m sewing a seam like this one, where I can’t use my piecing foot.

Anyway. Now that you’ve followed the directions in Juneflower to make these giant HRTs, how the fork do you trim these suckers? This is where you’ll need that poster board. Cut out a rectangle the size of the finished HRT— in other words, the size it’ll be when it’s sewn into the final quilt top. For the Juneflower HRTs, the finished size is 7”x14”. Take it slow and be precise!

The poster board rectangle is 7”x14”, slightly smaller than the untrimmed HRT.

Now that you have your poster board rectangle cut out, place it on your untrimmed HRT, lining up the corners of the poster board rectangle with the diagonal seam.

Line up the corners of your poster board with the diagonal seam.

Most poster board has one slick side and one more textured side; place the more textured side face down onto your fabric, so that it’ll stay put a little better.

Once two corners of your poster board are aligned with the diagonal seam, go ahead and grab your quilting ruler, which you’ll line up 1/4” away from the edges of the poster board rectangle; it’s okay if your ruler isn’t long enough to make the trim in two cuts — mine certainly isn’t, and in fact, I find it easier to use my shorter (6”x12”) ruler for this task.

Line up your ruler 1/4” away from the poster board rectangle.

You want to make sure you’ve got 1/4” of fabric all the way around the edges of your rectangle before you start to trim; I usually have to adjust things, moving the poster board and ruler around until I’m sure everything’s just right. If you’ve placed your poster board slippery side up, it’s usually not much of a problem to move your ruler around.

The seam allowance on the right is a little bit scant; keep adjusting best you can until you can see that you’ll get 1/4” seam allowance all the way around your rectangle. Don’t forget to keep the poster board corners aligned with the diagonal seams!

Once everything is where it needs to be, go ahead and trim along the edges of your quilting ruler, carefully moving it as many times you need in order to trim all the way around the block, 1/4” away from the poster board rectangle (make sure the poster board stays in the same place, though!).

Massive, trimmed HRT.

There you have it. Trimming these giant HRTs isn’t so bad, after all. (For the baby size Juneflower, I just use my CreativeGrids HRT ruler.)

One last tip: remember that, when trimming HRTs, the seam won’t trim right at the corner, but rather a smidgen away from it. Pic:

For more HRT tips, check out The Biggest HRT Mistakes to Avoid and Trimming HRTs. Happy piecing!