Vintage Sheet Half-Square Triangle Pillow Tutorial

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

Cutting is one of my least favorite parts of the sewing/quilting process. So I knew that anything that could make the cutting faster and easier was right up my alley! Enter, the Accuquilt GO! Fabric Cutter*. I have been playing around with it for a week or so, and I love it! It does require a little cutting prep work, but it's totally worth it! After I cut my rectangles the right size for the least amount of waste, I cut out 50 triangles in 2-3 minutes easy.

Today I'm going to share a tutorial with you using the Accuquilt GO! Fabric Cutter*, making a Vintage Sheet Half-Square Triangle Pillow. It's quilted and fully lined, featuring an envelope back. I used pink and yellow for mine, but you could use any colors you want. Regardless of the cutting method you use, you'll be making 25 half-square triangles that are 3.5" unfinished and 3" finished. I've including measurements for both rotary cutting and the fabric cutter:

I was sent this machine by Accuquilt in exchange for writing this post. All opinions, images and text are my own. I've used affiliate links in this post (noted with an *), which means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

Sewing Level: Intermediate

Materials:
- 2 fat quarters of pink fabric**
- 2 fat quarters of yellow fabric**
- 1/2 yard of backing fabric
- 1/4 yard of binding fabric
- 18"x18" piece of muslin fabric
- 18"x18" piece of batting
- 14" pillow form

**Minimum amount required. Use additional yardage for more variety.

Cutting:
If cutting with a rotary cutter:
- (25) yellow 4" squares
- (25) pink 4" squares

If cutting with an Accuquilt GO! Fabric Cutter* with the HST-3" Triangle Die:
- (7) 4.75" x 9.5" pieces of yellow fabric
- (7) 4.75" x 9.5" pieces of pink fabric

From binding fabric:
- Cut (2) 2.5" x WOF strips

From backing fabric:
- Cut (2) 15.5"x18" pieces

If you'd like to learn more about working with vintage sheets, check out my post: How to Identify, Shop for and Sew with Vintage Sheets.

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

Instructions:

Use a 1/4" seam allowance unless otherwise noted.

1. If you're using the fabric cutter, carefully align a few of your rectangles on the HST die and roll it through the cutter. Repeat until all your triangles are cut! If you're using a rotary cutter, cut 50 4" squares, 25 pink, 25 yellow.

2. Separate your pink and yellow pieces. Make pairs (of triangles or squares, depending on your cutting method!) with one pink and one yellow.

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

3. Sew your HSTs. If you're using the fabric cutter, carefully sew your sets of triangles together, making sure they feed evenly through your sewing machine. If you're making regular HSTs, you can refer to my Half-Square Triangle Tutorial if you need help!

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

4. Once your HSTs are all finished, be sure to press them and square up to 3.5" if necessary. I didn't do any squaring or trimming with mine, they were quite accurate!

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

5. I've included a diagram of my layout above if you'd like to use it, I went with an off center diamond. The nice thing about HSTs is the endless design possibilities! Go ahead and lay out your pillow top.

Work in progress!, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

6. Carefully stack up your rows and mark them accordingly. Sew your rows, pressing to one side, alternating each row. For example, press the 1st, 3rd, and 5th row to the right, press the 2nd and 4th row to the left. This allows your seams to nestle together!

7. After your rows are sewn, sew them together to complete your pillow top. The top should be 14.5" square.

8. Now that the top is finished, baste it, using a muslin or scrap fabric for the backing. You won't see it, it will be the inside of the pillow. If you need a refresher on basting, you can check out my Basting Tutorial.

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

9. Quilt it however you'd like! For mine, I did free motion lines on the diagonal. I used loose lines in the yellow parts and tighter lines in the pink parts to play up the contrast.

Pillow Top, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

10. Trim away the excess batting and backing, and square up your pillow top. It might be slightly less than 14.5" square now since the quilting squishes it up a little, that's okay!

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

11. Now let's make the envelope back. This method does take a little more fabric, but no hemming, yay! Take your two 18"x14.5" rectangles and fold them in half width-wise so they are now 9"x14.5". Press.

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

12. Top stitch along the fold you just made, 1/4"-1/8", whichever you'd like.

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

13. Lay one rectangle down on your cutting mat. Set your pillow top on top of it, lining up the bottom edge (raw) and one side edge (also raw). You may have a little extra on one side like me, go ahead and trim that off! Repeat with the other piece.

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

14. Now that everything is the right size, pin your backing pieces to the back of your pillow top. You want your top-sitched edges to both be in the center. They will overlap, that's what we want! Before starting in on the binding, I would suggest quickly basting your edges with a zig-zag to secure them. It will just make the binding go more smoothly!

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

15. Binding: Trim off selvedges and sew your binding strips together to form one long strip, press seams open. Fold in half lengthwise, pressing with your iron as you fold. Attach binding using your preferred method. For a detailed tutorial on attaching your binding to both sides by machine, see here.

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

Voila, you're finished! Enjoy your pretty new pillow!

Vintage Sheet HST Pillow, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.

Mine is hanging out with my other three pillows for our futon! It feels a little more complete now that there are two big ones and two little ones.

Happy Quilting!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.