This last week I’ve been working on sewing strip sets for a bargello circle quilt and honestly sewing strip sets is pretty boring. It takes me longer than it should because I just can’t get excited about it. I broke up the monotony with a mini side project to keep me in the stitching mood – these mini mini quilt earrings!
These little cuties half half square triangles that finish at a tiny 1/2” and the whole “quilt” is only 1” finished. I went with some Halloween colors because I had these scraps lying around but I want to play with some other colors and arrangements from my scrap pile!
To start, I made half square triangles (HSTs) two-at-a-time using 1 1/2” squares. To make these I used four squares of each color to make eight units.
Typically for making HSTs this way you take the finished size of your unit (i.e. not including your seam allowance) and add 7/8 of an inch. However, I always round up and add an inch so I trim down my units to be perfect, as I certainly cannot sew them perfectly without doing so.
Put your 1 1/2” squares right sides together, lining up the edges as accurately as you can, and draw a line diagonally from corner to corner.
Sew 1/4” from the center line on either side. I just line up the edge of my 1/4” piecing guide foot with that center line — if you don’t have one of these, I highly recommend them. They are generally pretty inexpensive. Once you have sewn your square, cut it down the middle diagonally on the line you drew. Open up your fabric and you will have two HSTs.
With something this tiny, I really recommend pressing your seams open. Once everything is pressed, bring it back to your cutting mat to trim down. You’ll want a ruler with a 45 degree line.
Line your 45 degree line up with the seam on your HST. Now, we want these to finish at 1/2”, so we need to add 1/4” to each side for seam allowance. That means we want to trim this down to 1”. For this first cut, you want the margins of you HST to be over the 1” line on your ruler so you have something to trim on the other side to keep everything even. Once you are lined up, trim the top and bottom.
Next, rotate your unit so the edges you just trimmed are under your ruler and aligned at the 1” mark, with your 45 degree line once again aligned with your seam. Trim the top and side again and voila, perfect HSTs with perfect points!
Now just make a four patch, making sure to press the seams on your rows before joining them and then pressing again once it’s all done. Once again, I found it easier to press everything open, but do what works for you. I won’t send the quilt police after you.
As opposed to trying to quilt and bind this, I tried a “pillowcase” closure. I didn’t add batting because the seams alone would fill the inside of it with it being so small. I cut 1 1/2” squares from another Halloween fabric and sewed the tiny four patch and the back right sides together, leaving one edge open. Make sure to start and stop 1/4” from the open edge for folding it down to finish. I trimmed down the seam allowance along the sides (except the open sides) to 1/8 an inch and cut the corners at an angle to help with bulk while flipping it. Flip your micro quilt right side put, using the bottom of a pen or something similar to gently push the corners.
Fold down the open edges one at a time. This was the trickiest part for me because it was so small. I used a regular glue stick to help holding the edges down.
Repeat for your other mini mini four patch. At this point, you could top stitch with a matching or fun, contrasting thread along the edges, or hang sew using a whip stitch or binding stitch. I opted to hand stitch, however the next time I will definitely machine top stitch as I think it will give it a nicer, more finished look.
As opposed to machine quilting, I threw in a couple hand ties with embroidery thread for another fun element. I split my 6-string embroidery thread into 3 strands just to go with trying to make it look to scale.
Finally, I created some loops with some scrap grosgrain ribbon and used a light to seal the cut edges so they wouldn’t fray. Hand sew them on the back with a running stitch, being sure your thread only passes through the back side of your mini mini quilt so stitches don’t show on the front. Alternatively you could hang these on point and just create a loop with embroidery thread on one of the corners.
I slid them onto these cute ultra slim hoop findings and done! They are super lightweight and fun, and I’m looking forward to adding them to my holiday earring rotation.
This was definitely a fun way to use up some scraps and think outside of the box for ways to use quilts. What are some outside of the box scrap busters you have tried? Let me know in the comments below!
Jessica A. Halpin Stitch & Knot Co. 