27/04/2013: Almost May already! This year is going so fast!
02/04/2013: Happy Easter. I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.
01/01/2013: Happy New Year!!
24/12/2012: Merry Christmas!!
13/11/2012: Getting hand-made presents ready for Christmas!!

Friday, September 2, 2011

More Hexagons


This is what hexagon madness looks like. I've cut the paper templates myself from normal printer paper using a fantastic template sheet which makes this step so easy and kind of relaxing. It was a perfect thing to occupy my hands on a day when all I wanted to do was sit and soak up the first bit of sun this spring.

The easiest way to baste 1 inch hexagons is to start with a 2.5" square of fabric and then fold and finger press the fabric along the paper, taking a stitch at each corner to hold the fabric in place. Once you do the first couple you can easily get into a rhythm and I have been finding this quite relaxing. If you need some help with basting basics here is a fantastic video tutorial on how to baste a hexagon using this method.

Now I admit that when I was more of a novice to quilting it was hard for me to fathom why anyone would want to hand sew these little babies when it is easy enough to cut a hexagon and sew it on a machine. I have sewn larger hexagons together with a machine with quite good accuracy which you can see below, but I can not imagine achieving this accuracy with these tiny pieces.

Moulin Rouge - skirt

Back to my tiny inchies... Next is deciding what to do with them. The plan is to make a charm quilt - which means only one piece of each fabric with no duplicates - but I am not sure whether to do a random pattern or organise it into a colour spectrum. I'll deliberate while I make more hexagons.

If you'd like to jump in and make some hexagons of your own please explore the links above. Remember you don't have to do things exactly the same as I am, or the same as Texas Freckles whose pages I have been referencing because I'm sure there are many ways to achieve the same results.

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