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Friday, March 7, 2014

Sewing a hexagon flower video

I like to find the most efficient way of making and stitching my hexagons together so today I thought I would show you how I stitch my hexagons together. When a hexagon is surrounded by six hexagons I describe this shape as a flower. I stitch the six "petals" together but do not close the circle so the shape that is left is an "open donut".


I set in the center hexagon and stitch all the way around and then close the opening, This allows me to use one length of thread. I shot a little video (I'm not a videographer so please excuse the quality) to demonstrate how I sew the hexagon together. I did it quickly with stitches that were larger and further apart than I would normally do and I used a colour of thread that didn't match. In the picture below I used a pale green thread combined with smaller stitches that were closer together the result is perfect!


I hope that my YouTube video will be helpful to you!


Sometimes a flower will have a second round of petals. I made a hexagon flower of 1" hexagons and stitched it together as shown in my video.


I stitched an open donut for the second round.


The open donut surrounds the flower. My sewing will start with the brown petal in the upper left of the open donut.


I place the right sides together and sew from the outer right edge toward the inner corner as indicated by the red circle.

Once that seam is stitched I fold the flower so that I can line up the edge of the open donut with the the next edge as indicated by the red circle. I stitch the seam.


I fold and line up the edges and sew the next seam.


I continue in this manner all around until I get to the beginning. All that is left is to close the seam of the open donut where indicated by the red circle.


I fold the pieces so I can line up the edges and stitch the seam closed.

 The finished hexagon with a second round!


I plan to add another round and to be sure that the fabrics line up where I want them I make marks on the papers. The center is marked "center".  I mark "1" on each hexagon that is to stack on top of the center. When stitching the open donuts together I know that the hexagons marked "1" must be on top of either the center or #1.


I always stitch my hexagons together in the same manner and there's a good reason for this. If I ever have to remove a section I know how the block was constructed so it makes the "reverse sewing" much easier!

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

14 comments:

  1. Great video Karen - thank you for sharing this process! More videos are welcome girlfriend :-)

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    1. Thanks Lorraine and as I think of topics I will definitely add more videos!

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  2. Awesome video. And I love, love, love those fabrics.

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  3. Do you have any tricks to share to prevent your whip stitches from showing in the front? I always have trouble with that. I really like your blog and love that you share all these techniques.

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    1. Hi Gina - I wanted to send you an email but you are a no-reply blogger. :-(
      There are two stitches that I am aware of that can be used. I use a whip stitch and the other is a ladder stitch. For me the ladder stitch is uncomfortable so I don't use it. For me the trick for relatively invisible stitches is to use a light-weight thread (I like Gutermann which is 50wt) and select a colour that matches the fabric. When making the stitches my goal is to catch a few threads on each hexagon. Personally I don't mind if the stitches can be seen a little because it shows the hand of the maker.
      Hope this helps!

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    2. Thank you! Also, I forget that Google/Blogger doesn't recognize Wordpress IDs as reply capable. I need to remember to comment on your site as a Google person! Lol. :-) I may try hexagon English paper piecing soon. You are very good at inspiring one to branch out!

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  4. Great idea! Love those colors together...very pretty!

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    1. Thanks Missie. I do like the "muddy" tones!

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  5. Thank you very much for the tutorial:)

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    1. You are more than welcome. I hope it was helpful!

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  6. You've made it seem like "paint by numbers". Love your colour and fabric choice. Hexies are crawling up my "to do" list. You can be assured when they reach the top I'll be sitting with them, and a cup of tea, going through your tutorial.

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  7. Thanks very much for your very interesting video ! It will help me .....

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  8. excellent video - this is a great help! :)

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