| Here is a standard Snowball block | | It is easily created by placing a square (green) at the corner of the base fabric and sewing the diagonal, as shown. Flip the lower part of the green square up and align the raw edges with the base fabric. | |
The Snowball block that results will have 3 layers of fabric in the corner. The base fabric, the bottom layer of the green square and the top layer of the green square. Press firmly to set the seamline. | |
Flip the top layer of the green square back onto the base fabric. Draw a line 1/2" away from the diagonal seamline. Sew another seamline on that drawn line. You will have a 1/2" space between the seamlines; cut between them. On the original block, flip the green square back up towards the corner and re-press. | |
Open up the block that you cut away to reveal the half-square triangle. | |
If your original base fabric (i.e. the quilt block) is sufficently large enough, the bonus half-square triangles created in this manner will be a useable size. This is an incredibly EASY way to make LOTS of half-square triangle blocks, as well as using up ALL of the fabric ... there is absolutely no waste, whatsoever.