Anyone that knows me knows that HSTs are not my favourite.  They’re a necessary evil at times, but there are a few other things I’d rather do first, you know, like pebble quilt a queen size…

So why do I hate them so?  It’s the endless amounts of prep!  Mark this, cut that, trim this, ugh!  So when Kari of New Leaf Stitches offered me the chance to try her Clearly Perfect Angles I thought hey, anything that makes an HST more palatable has got to be worth trying!

Would you like to know something?  These things are freaking magical!

Let me show you how it works:

Before you start sewing you need to apply the cling template to your machine.  There’s a wee bit to cut out round the feed dogs, which you customise to your own machine, and then you line up the guides and away you go!

I have my machine set up with my quilting table in place most of the time so it fits with room to spare, but if your machine is smaller, you can trim the template to size.  Also, because it’s vinyl it’s nice and bendy and flexible and will stick onto curvy bits too.

You’ll notice that it clings over my drop in bobbin, but you just lift up that part of it, swap out the bobbin and smooth it back into place again.  You can also remove it and place it back on its protective paper again if you’re making a bag or something that needs you to pull out the free arm.

Now you’re ready to sew:

1.  Draw no lines.

2. Draw no lines.  Kidding (I mean you still don’t need to draw them, but it was worth repeating).  Decide if you want an HST from the 2 square method, or a corner of a larger goose/rectangle/square.  I’ll show you the 2 square option first:

With this option you use the vertical grey line as one alignment point, and then the grey angled line as the other.

As long as you keep that bottom corner on the grey line, that’s as technical as it gets!  Once you’ve finished one direction, you just flip the squares round and do the other side

If you want to make geese, or add a square to a corner of something, you just use the centre green line and the angled green lines for alignment.  Although this goose is teeny, if you have larger ones then you can use that dotted line to the left to line up your original stitching, and then you’ll get a bonus HST, happy days!

I whipped all but the last of these up in 1 night, including the cutting.  This would normally take me a week with all the marking and foutering around (and procrastinating on the annoying bits):

I have to say I’d never have even contemplated tackling the Moda Building Blocks pattern without the Clearly Perfect Angles, as the entire thing seems to be HST upon HST, but now I’m actually looking forward to them!

If you would like to try one for yourself, they’re available directly from Kari at New Leaf Stitches in the US here, and from my shop here in the UK