20+ Black and White HST Quilt Blocks for Babies!

October 3, 2023

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Black and White HSTs being arranged into a quilt block

Welcome to #QuiltBlockMania , a monthly blog hop hosted by Carolina Moore from Always Expect Moore offering themed free quilt blocks. Be sure to check out the other October blog posts listed at the bottom!

This month's theme is "Baby." I am taking a little creative liberty here. My block is not about babies, but for babies!

Did you know that newborns initially lack color vision? Because of this, high contrast images are easier for them to see. Black and white shapes and patterns help babies learn to align separate images from each eye into a single image in the brain.

Both of my children demonstrated this. Pippa's first favorite book was "Look, Look," (Amazon or Bookshop) and Jack is absolutely in love with "Black Cat & White Cat" (Amazon or Bookshop) -- both beautiful black and white books. Add either of these books to your quilted project for a perfect baby gift.

And if you really wanna go all out, check out my 100% organic quilty onesies and bibs. There's a discount code in the free guide!

So, let's have some fun making black and white patterned blocks for our favorite newborns! You could turn a single block into a mini quilt tummy time mat, nursery pillow, or wall hanging. Or make multiple blocks, and turn them into a baby quilt! Repeat the same block multiple times, alternate two blocks, or make a variety. Add a crinkle paper layer to your projects to add tactile interest. The sky (and your creativity) is the limit!

The fun part is you can make endless combinations of patterns with this simple HST (half-square triangle) tutorial!

Read below for the basic how-to and create your own black and white layouts, or sign up here to get my download: 20+ Black and White HST Blocks for Babies + a 15% off code! You'll also get the tutorial below, expanded with detailed piecing diagrams to help even more.

The Steps

Ok, let's get started!

For one 12.5" (unfinished) sixteen-patch block, you'll need (2) 8" squares of black fabric and (2) 8" squares of white fabric. That's it! You can get (5) squares from 1/4 yard.

Follow these eight-at-a-time directions to make (16) HSTs:

1. Draw (2) lines, corner to corner, on the wrong side of both 8" white squares.

2. Layer (1) white square on top of (1) black square, right sides together.

3. Sew 1/4" away from both sides of each drawn line.

4. Cut on the drawn lines and on the vertical and horizontal midpoints to separate into (8) HSTs.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 for (16) total HSTs.

6. Some people like to press their seams open and then trim HSTs. Others like to trim first, then press open. Personally, I like to use the Clearly Perfect Slotted Trimmers (Amazon or Fat Quarter Shop) which means I trim then press seams open. Either way, you want to trim your HSTs to 3 1/2" square.

7. Arrange your HSTs as you like. Get 20+ ideas here.

8. Sew the HSTs into 4 rows (press seams open) and then sew the rows together (press seams open) into (1) sixteen-patch block.

You're done! Easy peasy!