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Category Archives: Magikquilter's Half Hexagon Tutorial

Half Hexagon Tutorial Part Four…finishing your quilt


We are now at the final stage of constructing our hexagon quilt, table runner, tablecloth, cushion, bag…whatever it is you are making…the possibilities are endless with this method! Depending on what it is you have made prepare a back for your quilt top. As mine is a cushion I pieced mine from the remains of some fat quarters which contrasted nicely with the front. You might prefer to use one piece of fabric…..it is possible to buy fabric wide enough now so that piecing is unnecessary.

Once pieced press the back well and check the front is still well pressed and ready for the quilt sandwich.  Oh and obviously check that all your threads are trimmed and that none are caught in the seams and showing at the front…a good idea to save heartbreak later.

Sandwich your quilt using batting of your choice ….then you are ready for quilting. Ruth drew up these quilting graphics for us earlier this year. I quilted my grandmother’s garden cushion by machine using the below design. It worked really well and was a pleasure to work on the machine. The seams which were pieced did not get quilted with this method…they simply become part of the design.

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Another way which looks like a lot of fun is this one….I love this design…and will be using this on one of my wips soon.

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Ruth recommended this one for grandmother’s garden or scrappy ones

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and this one for hand sewing.

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I recently made a little tote bag and did my usual free hand circles…hand quilted with cotton perle thread. You might need to click on the photo and enlarge it at flickr to see the effect. It actually seems to work quite well with the floral garden look.

shabby hexies quilted

Lastly…a lot of people stippled their quilts…free motion quilted. The most amazing ones I have seen are alissa’s pebbles

and cathy’s swirly flowers.

So all you have to do now is quilt it however you are most comfortable…or challenged…tee hee…and bind it and then…go on show it off!

I will eventually be adding tutorials to different style hexagon quilts….my antique style hexagon and the grandmother’s garden style…as a matter of fact I am inspired to try out lots of different ideas…inspired a whole lot by the researchong of this tutorial!

By the way when I was researching this tutorial I found a link to a free pattern on one of the quilting magazine sites…it is in PDF form and has a template…a large one and similar graphics to Ruth’s …you might find it useful.

I would again like to thank Aneela of Comfort Stitching who hosted our first half hexagaon quiltalong and Ruth of Ruthdesigns …whom I am hoping will wrote a pattern for this…her patterns are fabulous and are available here.

Half Hexagon Tutorial Part Three…the sewing of the strips

Now we come to the sewing together of the half hexi blocks into strips!

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I prefer to leave my half hexies up on my design wall. Aneela in our our original quiltalong advised, amongst other things, placing them in labelled zip lock bags, that is useful for people who cannot leave their work out but I find it easier to work direct from my design wall. I found that when I took the first strip down and placed the pieces in a pile that I reversed the angle of the seam somehow! It works better for me to keep the work up so I can see it…I guess I am a more visual person than I realised.

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Hexagon Assembly

So take the strips one by one and sew the half hexagons together by aligning the seams at a slight angle….as in the photos above. When finished with each strip, after pressing with a hot iron of course, add it back to your design wall. A very satisfying experience as the hexagon blocks start to align…. as you can see in the graphic which was put together by Ruth of Ruth Designs. Some of the people who put their pieces away in bags put their completed strips, in order after pressing, over the top of their washing airers which is a great idea which came out of our previous quiltalong! Some other people laid out their strips on their work tables ready for sewing together.

Next simply sew the strips together, allowing your usual seam allowance of quarter of an inch and gently encouraging the seams to align, This should be easy actually, its almost foolproof…. yeah!

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Once all your strips are sewn together and you have double or in my case treble checked that your seams match….press your quilt top

and congratulate yourself….the hardest part is over!

Here is a graphic showing how the edges will look once the quilt top is completed….the graphic allows for a larger area at top and bottom…you can measure and trim that down to a more exact measurement if you desire by trimming the top and bottom edges so that they are half the height  plus seam allowance, of the hexagons.

Hexagon Quilt trimmed

Adding a border is optional…some mosaic style quilts look better without them …its a personal thing.

Red Pepper Quilts did not add one and it looks fabulous

Neither did Cathy and hers is spectacular

Stephanie did not add a border to her quilt

Pokey is adding a hexagon style border to hers which looks fantastic

marilynk however  added a border to her mini quilt and it is stunning

Joan also added a border to her really unique quilt

half hexagon quiltalong part five

Above you can see my previous top trimmed and ready for sandwiching, sans border.

Here is a really original quilt  by ashley

and another here by alissa…well worth checking out.

 

I am also working on this random style quilt in sherbet colours…will add it when I have completed the top. I removed some of the blocks…if you click on the photo you can see it on flickr and you can see which ones I removed…there are notes on the photo which I can’t do here! 

Next time…. sandwiching and quilting.

 

Again many thanks to Ruth for her help with the original inspiration  and for the graphics and template.

Don’t forget to add photos to Tutorials @ magikquilter.com on flickr!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Half Hexagon Tutorial Part Two cutting and auditioning the hexagons

Okay once you have the fabric make sure it is ironed….it is up to you whether you wash it or not. I wanted the starch to stay in mine so I left it unwashed. Cut your fabric into strips the width of the template you are using.I don’t know whether I told you all but I used scraps for my mosaic quilt…yes scraps…and I am cutting out more with… ..yes ….scraps!!!

But for this project I bought co-ordinating  fabric …but in fat quarters…just to be difficult!

If you have your hexagon template you can now cut out other templates from template plastic or whatever you prefer to use. I personally do not use plastic templates and rotary cutters due to health reasons but understand that I am a dying breed! So the graphic below shows how to lay the template on whatever width half hexagon you are using. The templates Ruth drew up for us finish at 10cm…4in and 15cm….6in and they allow for the usual quarter inch seam allowance. The method of strip cutting really allows little wastage which is a very useful thing in quilting.

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Okay now to my rather eccentric but painless way of cutting out templates…it is basically English Paper Piecing or Paper Piecing without the need to keep the papers in when sewing. This is a very accurate way of cutting out and also is useful to me as I have very little room in our flat to lay things out so I can do this on a collapsible craft table quite comfortably. I am all about the comfort!!  To enable a really smooth and enjoyable time cutting out my half hexagons for my mosaic quilts….I currently have about three in varying sizes that I am collecting fabric for….I had my scissors sharpened and they then cut through quite a deep pile of hexagons! I was amazed actually at how blunt my scissors had become over time…yes I hung my head in shame as the repair person at Mr Minit examined the tools of my trade.

So I recommend if you are cutting templates the old fashioned way…once you are sure your scissors are sharp enough to cut off your little finger…..that you stack those strips of fabric! I defy anyone to tell me its not as much fun or as accurate as rotary cutting!!! I’m such a rebel at heart! You will need to cut out enough paper templates to fit the width of the fabric you are using, don’t forget.

Oh I forgot to say grab yourself  a coffee or a beverage…..non alcoholic….you need your wits about you with those sharp scissors and / or those rotary cutters…not to mention all those angles!

Oh by the way I have found another method of cutting out half  hexagons… this method involves using a clear 60 degree triangular ruler and strips of fabric. If you have the triangular ruler it would be an easy way of cutting out the trapezoids.

Now a word about fussy cutting…as you can see this fabric has a delightful….well I think so…pattern on it and it requires a bit of positioning of the template to ensure the seam will still align quite well. I like to use a few larger prints as it adds visual appeal.

So here we have a few trapezoids or as we call them half hexagons …these are only a selection….various people I have seen make these quilts seem to recommend at least twenty different fabrics. Variety does seem to help with placement I feel.

Okay so next…the auditioning of the blocks. Using some sort of design wall or design board….whatever works for you… start adding various pairs of half hexies until like Joan, you get a pleasing arrangement. If you are anything like me you will end up doing two quilts as you just can’t decide between mosaic quilts!

My random quilt for this tutorial is a work in progress…meaning I have to run up to Spotlight tomorrow to get more of those coloured ones scattered through with white that my son suggested I get weeks ago! Believe me more is more with this kind of block…variety just  seems to work better, visually anyway.

Please let me know if I have forgotten anything. Next step is the sewing of the strips…an interesting adventure in which several of my friends and I reversed our first seam somehow…we have nnooo idea how and it never happened again!!! At least I was in good company!

I would again like to thank Ruth for her kind use of the graphics and templates.

Half Hexagon Tutorial Part One

PART ONE: IngredientsChoosing fabric from your stash...you will need varied strips wide enough to fit the size template you are using. Buying fabric...for a quilt 180cm x 180cm you will need approximately 30 x 25cm strips or fat quarters.

A word about fabrics...smaller all over prints work best for this although fussy cutting larger prints can definitely work as long as you make sure the seam does not cut into the pattern too much….ie you do not want to join together the head of a monkey with the feet of a monkey…you need to really try to read the finished hexagon, when quilted, as if it were only one block.

*Border fabric…if you would like to use a border you will need extra fabric for that…I am using one of my feature fabrics.
*Half Hexagon template purchased from quilt shop or template made from plastic. When I was researching this tutorial I found a link to a free pattern on one of the quilting magazine sites…it is in PDF form and has a template…a large one …you might find it useful.
*Template plastic or paper for piecing templates….I use spare scrapbooking paper… anything that is spare really like good quality magazine brochures…it has to be able to take a few pins without a battle and without it being so flimsy that it disintegrates.
*Pins, design wall of some kind, thread, batting of choice, backing fabric, binding fabric, scissors and /or rotary cutters and mats, sewing machine, new sewing machine needle.

The variety of quilts to make this way is simply endless……recently I saw a  fabulous one made with alternate white hexagons.…. and another which would work with half hexagons is here. My friend Joan made one in an unusual layout …it is here.

My two finished ones so far are…..the mosaic top

half hexagon quiltalong part five

and the grandmother’s garden above…modern style…still not sure whether that should be  a cushion or a tote bag!

Part Two… cutting and auditioning hexies.

Half Hexagon Tutorial

So many people have asked me for and searched for a tutorial for my half hexi quilt that I have organised a Tutorial. You can look at it like a Quiltalong ……just do it in your own time and at your own pace!

I have started a flickr group for photos of projects made using my tutorials….please feel free to add photos there…it is a place to encourage each other and to show off our finished work.

half hexagon quiltalong part five

This tutorial could be used for placemats, totebags or quilts….large or small. See you tomorrow for Part One!

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