Do you see all those half-square triangles (HSTs for short)? Yikes! Half-square triangles by themselves are straightforward. Put 36 of them together however and now it gets a bit harder.
Tips and Tricks
1. With all the HSTs I cut the fabric 1/8” bigger than the pattern suggests. This is important because it will allow you to trim the HSTs to the exact size in the pattern accurately. Plus it will give you some extra wiggle room for small errors.
2. The next big tip would be to press ALL the HSTs open. Pressing all those seams open will help you when you start to add the rows of those HSTs together. The seams will not be as bulky.
Birds in the Air Quilt Block
Personally, I don’t care to press open however sometimes it does make it easier in the overall assembly. With the small 5” block, I pressed everything open. With the other two block sizes once I added the rows I pressed to the side. That is just a personal preference so if you prefer to press your seams open go for it.
Do you like to press your seams open? To the side? I know that for me it is on a case-by-case basis with my preference leaning towards pressing to the side more often than not. Let me know what you do in the comments below.
