Making stars in hexagons with diamonds

How about just a little more hexagon fun? I wrote about breaking down a hexagon into three diamonds,

and six triangles.

Triangles and diamonds made from the same size hexagons that are used to make rosettes can be used to join those rosettes. If you missed that lesson you will find it here. My Road 66 quilt is made with hexagons that are 1 1/4". The rosettes are joined with triangles and diamonds that were made from the 1 1/4" hexagons that were subdivided.

For even more fun try enlarging a hexagon using the copy feature on your printer. The larger the hexagon the easier it is to subdivide into even more shapes. The hexagons in my Hexagreens quilt were 2 3/4" in size.

To make the math easier let's enlarge the hexagon to 3". You can easily break down this larger hexagon into twelve diamonds to create a star inside a hexagon.

So how did I break it down? I started by creating a master template - I started with a 1" hexagon and enlarged it using the copy feature on my printer until I had a hexagon that measured 3". I should be able to fit several of these 3" hexagons on a single sheet of paper. This now becomes my master template (I mark it so that I know it is a master template) and I will use this master template to make copies of my paper hexagons. I never cut up the original, only the copies.

I start by making a copy of my master template but I don't cut it out. I draw lines from corner to corner on a hexagon.

The next step is to mark the midpoint on each of the six sides of the hexagon. The hexagon measures 3" on each side so the midpoint will be 1 1/2". Draw lines from midpoint on the side to the opposite midpoint. I do three sides to create a triangle (green in the diagram).

I then draw lines from midpoint to midpoint on the remaining three sides (blue in the diagran). The lines should intersect perfectly. Please excuse my sloppy computer drawing skills; the lines do not intersect perfectly in the diagram but they will on the template provided the midpoint is correctly marked on each of the six sides.

At this point it is made up of 24 triangles which you could use to create an interesting design but we want to make a star in a hexagon so the final step is to remove the lines that dissect the diamonds so that what we are left with is twelve diamonds! Again please excuse the sloppy drawing but you get the general idea.

If you remember my lesson from January 28th you will be able to figure out that the diamonds above have four sides of equal length and it is one half the length of the hexagon. This means that if you are working with a 3" hexagon the diamonds will be 1 1/2" long on each side.

You can fussy cut six diamonds to make a lovely star and then use a plain print for the remaining six diamonds that turn the star into a hexagon.

I like the star shown below because it is made from two simple tone-on-tone prints and it is the filler diamonds that turn the star into a hexagon that are fussy cut. I had originally planned to sew them together to make a star but it just didn't work so I though why not use them as the filler diamonds and they worked beautifully!

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. If I can answer the question I am always happy to do so!

Tomorrow I'll be publishing my new English paper piecing patterns in my Craftsy Store. And there will be a give away too! I have five booklets titled Easier Than Pie & Beyond and five lucky readers will have the chance to win an Easier Than Pie & Beyond booklet of their choice! So come back tomorrow to see my hexagon designs enter the giveaway. Until tomorrow, happy sewing!

Karen H