TUTORIAL: Fun with half and half hexagons

Good morning people! I've done several tutorials about how I like to have fun with hexagons, more fun than just using one fabric basted to a paper hexagon. When I made my Stars in the Loft hexagon quilt I didn't have enough fabrics or the right fabrics to cut the kinds of designs that I wanted to create so I developed a technique in which I paper foundation pieced with my sewing machine on my paper hexagon and once that was done I continued in the usual English paper piecing method. The reason I pieced on the paper is that if the seams of two fabrics extend into the corner I wanted to make sure that everything lined up perfectly. This is a great technique but in sewing on the paper it is sacrificed. I have other techniques that I developed for fancy hexagons such as made fabric. So I gave it some thought and figured that there was no reason why I couldn't use the "made fabric" for half and half hexagons.

Stars in the Loft by Karen H

Today I'll to share my simplified method to make the half and half hexagons rosette designs from my quilt. I call the hexagon half and half because one half is made with one fabric and the other a different fabric. This refined technique is faster and easier than my previous method and it is gentle on your hexagon papers.

TIP: You can purchase precut papers or if you are like me you can cut them out yourself. You will find templates with various sizes of hexagons under the tab English Paper Piecing Instructions & Hexagon Fun at the top of this page. If your printer doesn't print them the exact size you may need to enlarger or reduce the template. If you are gentle with the paper you will get many uses out of them. I use regular 20lb bond paper to print my hexagons and I cut them when I don't feel like sewing!

I start out by sewing two strips of fabric together using a 1/4" seam allowance. I shortened my stitch length because I will be cutting up the strip and I don't want the seams to come undone at the end. For a 1" hexagon I used two strips that measure 1 1/2" by 20". When the strip was sewn I pressed the seam allowance open.

I placed my hexagon on the strip being sure to line up the points of the hexagon on the seam. I used my children's washable glue stick to hold the paper template in place. Make sure that there is glue near the points of the hexagon that line up on the seam line.

I cut around the hexagon with my scissors leaving a generous seam allowance. I find that 3/8" works well. You don't have to fuss around with a ruler and rotary cutter - just use your scissors. The seam allowance doesn't have to be the same all the way around because you are going to baste the fabric to the paper and whip stitch your hexagons together unlike traditional patchwork where you must sew your patches together on the 1/4" seam allowance line.

I thread baste my hexagon from the back. To begin I start at one of the corners that is lined up with the seam. I fold over the seam allowance on the right side.

I fold over the seam allowance on the other side making sure I have a nice sharp point.

I turn over the hexagon to make sure that the point is lined up on the seam. If it isn't I lift the seam allowances to make sure the point is lined up and repeat the folds until it is correct.

I then start thread basting from the back and work around the hexagon until I get to the second point that lines up on the seam allowance. I repeat the process described above to line up the point on the seam allowance and continue basting.

This is what the hexagon will look like from the front and the back. Because I've basted from the back there are no holes in my paper and when it is removed it will be in great shape and ready to be used again and again. I use a washable children's glue stick to hold the fabric in place so the bond is very weak which means the paper comes out easily! When do I take the paper out? As soon as a hexagon is completely surrounded by other hexagons I remove the paper.

I fussy cut one hexagon for the centre of my rosette (or flower if you prefer) and then arrange the half and half hexagons around the centre. Following are four arrangements.

Another option that would be interesting would be to alternate three solid hexagons with three half and half hexagons! Play around and see what you can come up with!

For a little more fun here are some close-ups of the half and half hexagon rosettes in my Stars in the Loft hexagon quilt.

This is just one of countless designs that I have. It is fun, it is easy and it is a great way to use up strips of fabric. Although all of the examples above use only two fabrics for the half and half hexagons there is no reason why you couldn't use an variety of colours. Wouldn't it be fun to use the same light colour for all six hexagons but different jelly colours for the other half and then sew them into a pinwheel design like the block show above? It sure would be fun!

For those of you who are interested in the Brinton Hall quilt pattern in Quiltmania (pattern designed by Leigh Lattimore) I have found another quilt maker who is working on it. Kelly of Always Applique hasn't been blogging for several moths but on Monday she posted with oodles of pretty pictures of the projects she is working on including her Brinton Hall quilt which you can see here.

I hope you enjoy this little tutorial. Time for me to do some sewing so until I post again, happy sewing to you!
Karen H

More how tos for Stars in the Loft and Turtle Girl makes a quilt!

Today Quilting Gallery's Show and Tell voting opens up and I've entered Stars in the Loft. I hope you'll find time to visit and take a look at the quilts and read the stories. You will find all of the quilts and be able to vote for your favourite here.

 

I really emjoy making hexagon quilts. I have master templates for a wide variety of sizes of hexagons and I make copies from the masters and I cut up those copies to make my quilts. The master templates are kept in a binder. On the master I write the size of the template on each hexagon (the example below is 1") and I place a coloured dot at the top in the centre. This lets me know that this is the original template from which copies should be made. In this way the master never gets cut up! You can see that this master has been well used!

 

Yesterday I showed you how I make my "firecracker" hexagons. I thought I would show you a few more of the motifs in Stars in the Loft and how I made them. They really are very easy to make once you know the secrets! EvenTurtle Girl has started her own little quilt. I snapped this picture of her out in the garden enjoying the flowers and sunshine!

 



She's doing a pretty good job of it considering she doesn't have opposable thumbs!

So let's get started by expanding on the firecracker motif. If I add one more piece to this hexagon I can make a T hexagon. I construct the T hexagon in the same manner as the firecracker. I shorten the length of the stitches on my sewing machine and I foundation piece the block. Shortening the stitch length will make it easier to remove the papers when the time comes. The drawn lines are my sewing lines. The last piece I sew is the cross bar at the top of the hexagon.

Firecracker hexagon

 

T hexagon

The finished T hexagon

The star motif is another simple but effective design. I draw my sewing lines on the hexagon as follows:

I shorten the length of the stitches on my sewing machine and I foundation piece the hexagon. The drawn lines are my sewing lines and this is the hexagon that results:

Six of these hexagons and one for the centre will make this!

 

Or this!

Dividing the template in half from point to point like this,

results in a hexagon that looks like this!

Depending on your fabric selection you can come up with a variety of motifs! Here are some examples.

 

 

Or you can change the placement of the hexagons and make a whirligig (a pinwheel)!

 

Are the creative juices flowing? I sure hope so! I would love to hear from you. Tell me what you think of this method of constructing hexagon blocks. I'll share more in the days to come.

While I was outside with Turtle Girl I look a couple of pictures of blossoms in the garden.

Until I post again, happy sewing!

The making of Stars in the Loft and Hobb's Thermore Batting

Hexagon quilts are so much fun to make because they are portable and they make use of small scraps of fabric. I also like them because it is a good way to experiment with different colour combinations, combinations you would never have planned. Don't like the centre patch, swap it out for something else! Experiment and explore! When making hexagon quilts I always learn more about colour and usually come up with print and colour combinations that I would never have considered!

The basic technique used to make Stars in the Loft is English paper piecing, EPP for short. Simply put the seam allowances of the patches are folded over a paper hexagon template and then basted. These basted patches are whip stitched together to make the desired motif. The best known and most traditional motif is what I call a flower; it consists of six “petals” surrounding the centre patch.

Basic flower motif

 

To add interest to the basic flower fussy cut the centre patch.

 

For even more interest fussy cut the petals.

 

If you don’t have enough fabric to fussy cut six petals, fussy cut three and alternate them with another fabric.

 

Fussy cutting is great  fun because it allows you to make interesting designs or patterns.The medallion in Stars in the Loft is surrounded by a border of what I call firecrackers. They could have been fussy cut from a striped fabric but they weren`t. I made them with a dark navy fabric with a light stripe in the centre - don't they sparkle! The medallion is sourrounded by firecrackers and the border design was also made with them. I used only one navy fabric for the medallion but the border design was made with firecrackers made with a wide assortment of navy fabrics including the one used in the medallion.

 

Centre medallion surrounded by firecrackers

 

Close-up of firecrackers in medallion

 

Firecrackers used in the border

 

I could have searched for a striped fabric that could be fussy cut so the stripe was centred but I had two problems with that approach. First it would involve a lot of time to search for the fabric (time that would be better spent sewing) and secondly fussy cutting can waste a lot of fabric. So I had to figure out a work around for the firecrackers. The solution was simple; combine foundation paper piecing with EPP.

 

Here is how I do it. I draw my sewing lines on the paper template and foundation piece on my sewing machine.

 

Once the foundation piecing is completed the EPP techinique is used to baste the patch and built the motifs.

 

Once I had solved the border around the medallions I thought why not apply this same method to the flower blocks in the quilt. Ao here are three flowers made using the firecracker template!

 

 

And here is another simple variation, what I call  half and half. I made this template quickly so the sewing line isn`t centred but in this block it wouldn`t make much difference!

And here is the block!

So that`s the basic tecnique!

One of the things I want to tell you about hexagon quilts is that they are HEAVY, not the far out kind of heavy but rather they weigh a lot! All of those seam allowance add up. When it comes to what batting to use a I find that a cotton batting or an 80/20 is just too heavy. I prefer to use Hobb's Thermore. It is a thin light weight batting that needles beautifully. It is polyester but I've used it for both hand and machine quilting with not probllem at all. It is also a great batting to use for miniature quilts!

I buy my battings from Connecting Threads when they are on sale. Right now they are on sale at 30% off. The regular price is $22 but you can get a queen size batt for just over $15. Even with the shipping it is a great deal, particularly if you purchase multiple battings for yourself or with a group of friends.

I hope you enjoy my technique for making stellar hexagon blocks. It really is fast, fun and easy. And it lends itself to chain piecing which is a great time saver!

Until I post again, happy sewing!