Hexies and More Hexies

I am addicted to making little hexies...hexagons to be exact.  English Paper Piecing was making a come-back and I was determined to resist.  I made it until February 2013, when I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a Jo Morton quilting retreat in Nebraska.  Let me tell you - the girls at the retreat loved some hexies- so I took the plunge.  I am now messing around with 1/2" hexies and I have 2 projects started with 3/4" hexies.


So what are these things and what do they turn into?  There are lots of great examples on Pinterest.  Search Grandmother's Flower Garden and English Paper Piecing and you will see some wonderful examples of beautiful vintage and reproduction quilts.

I am just getting started so I can't show you a finished project but I am sharing progress to date.

Getting started.  You will need some tools.  I know our ancestors probably cut paper pieces out of newsprint or whatever they had available, but I opted to order heavy-weight pieces from http://www.paperpieces.com/.  After playing around with cutting for a day, I went back online and ordered the acrylic template that was the appropriate size for the hexagons I was using.  The template allows me to stack multiple layers of fabric and use a small rotary cutter or scissors to cut the fabric. Using a rotary cutter is faster, but - silly me -likes the feel of sharp dressmakers scissors cutting
through fabric. (Note - I use a rotary cutter all the time for other types of cutting.)



I pulled from my stash and visited a couple of quilt shops to gather the 30's reproduction fabric I wanted to use.  I am actually doing 2 projects at the same time - 1 for me and one for my daughter.  My flowers are all colors and have yellow centers, while Jenn's are more orange, yellow, green, and brown, with orange centers, to coordinate with the colors in her vintage kitchen.  Trust me - we collected far more fabric in various colors and patterns than what you see here.  Part of the fun is collecting and petting the fabric...

To get started, I cut the fabric into hexagons using the acrylic template to get the right size. I punched a hole in the center of each paper piece so I could pin it in place on the fabric as shown above. By doing that, the paper stayed centered while folding and stitching and the paper pieces were easy to pop out later. There are all kinds of ways to stitch, but for me, it worked best to fold and baste the fabric at each corner.  I started by tying a small knot in the thread and with my thumb and finger, I folded down the first side and then the next, forming a neat mitered corner. I inserted the needle right at the corner and took a small stitch to secure the fold. I then folded the next side down and made one long stitch to jump to the corner and made a small stitch to secure that corner.  I continued until all 6 corners were tacked down.  (Note - The basting thread will all be removed when the hexies are sewn together.)


Once I had 6 flower hexies and 1 center hexie basted, I stitched them - right sides together - with a tiny whipstitch.  I added extra stitches on the corners to secure the edges.  I continued attaching each of the flower hexies to the center piece to form 1 flower block. When the center hexie was surrounded, I popped the  paper piece out of it, making it easier to sew more hexies together.  Continue in this manner until the desired number of flowers are made.

I am in the process of joining flowers together to make a diamond-shaped tablerunner.  This is where I am so far.  All of my hexies are sewn together and I am deciding how to quilt and bind it.

This has definitely been a "learn as I go" process.  My stitching got smoother and faster as I progressed.  I enjoy the peacefulness of handwork and I am excited to see how this turns out.  I will posted the finished product.

Happy stitching - Letitia