How to Sew Partially-Seamed Hexagons

I came across this technique last year when I was working on a project for John Louden, only then I used squares, and I found it was much simplier than it looks! Thankfully, it is equally as simple with hexagons, which made my latest quilt, Floating Hexagons a joy to make. 

So I thought I would share this joy and give you an easy-follow guide on how to make these simple blocks. I am working with 4½” hexagons, and 1½” x 4" white border strips.

1) Take your coloured hexagon and pin a white strip along its top edge, with the left side hanging over the end of the hexagon very slightly. Sew only halfway across this seam, shown by the red dashed line. Secure with a couple of back stitches, and cut thread.

2) Open the seam and finger press upwards. Now moving anti-clockwise, pin your second white strip along the next edge of the hexagon and carry on across your first white strip. Sew along this whole seam, and cut thread. 

 








3) Unfold and fingerpress this second strip back as you did before, and carry on with your next three white strips. 

4) When you get to the last strip, fold your first strip up and out of the way so that you can sew along the whole last side of the hexagon. Fingerpress this strip back as before, then fold your first strip back down so that your can see your first seam, pin and sew along the whole length of your first strip, finishing off your partial seam, and so that your first and last white strips are joined like the others.

5) Now use your quilter's ruler to trim your block up, my block needs to be 6½” tall, so I aligned my ruler as below, noting that the 1¼” ruler marks line up with the inner seams of the white strips.

6) Trim all your ends and you now have a partially seamed hexagon!

7) If you would like to put this new skill to work, look out for my latest pattern, Floating Lilies, which uses these blocks together with triangles to make this gorgeous quilt. This pattern will be released onto sewmotion.com very soon!
 

Thank you for visiting, your comments are always welcome. If you are looking for more handy tips, why not pop over to Late Night Quilter's Tips & Tutorials Tuesday link up. Enjoy!

WIP: This Hexy addiction is becoming ridiculous

Isn’t it strange when you come across a quilter’s blog, and your eye is caught by the beautiful designs, the stunning simplicity of the fabrics, and the colours used that are so you… you then click on their quilt gallery only to realise you’ve been admiring their quilts all year, why you even own their book.

This is exactly what happened when the latest WIP Wednesday blog from Freshly Pieced popped up in my Bloglovin' feed. I’ve been coveting Lee Heinrich’s quilts at QuiltCon in Austin, in magazines, and off course online for a long time. Plus, her book, Vintage Quilt Revival, happily sits on my bookshelf crying out to be browsed and used… more quilts to add to my ‘must do’ list!

This is my first time linking up with WIP Wednesday - I do think these linkies are such a great idea to get fellow quilters to meet each other out there in the big wide world, and also to gain feedback and encouragement from each other. My other favourite linky is Molli Sparkles’Sunday Stash, any excuse to get those fabrics out!

So today I’d like to share one of my many WIPs, another to add to my hexagon obsession! At the moment this one is called Floating Lilies as the hexagons seem to float in a sea of white, much like waterlilies. I loved piecing the front - the 60degree triangles are much easier to piece than fiddly Y-seams! This was also a great quilt to use my precious Mimosa fat quarters I bought in Austin as you don't need to use a lot of them!

Even though I had enough white for the whole the back, I thought that would be a little boring, so decided on more partial-seamed hexies, this time white with coloured borders. 

As for the quilting, I will probably have parallel lines through the white and then refer to Angela Walter’s Shape by Shape book again for something to do in the hexagons. Watch this space as they say! This is another of my own designs, and there will be a pattern available to purchase soon… once I’ve finished this baby. And guess what.. the postman has just delivered my white wadding, so must get on!

I hope you've enjoyed this blog, if you have any queries or comments, I would love to hear from you. For more inspiration go and have a peek at some great blogs on Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday.

Square Dance Pattern Release

I'm so happy to announce another pattern release, let me introduce you to Square Dance.

This pattern is a part of my skill building collection, and is ideal for beginners. Based on the disappearing four patch technique, you use 5” charm squares, sewn in a four patch, then cut up and re-sewn into this cute block. The real magic happens when you place them next to each other to create this grid like effect.

This 7-page pattern includes full colour-instructions with diagrams on the cutting and sewing. Plus, there are my Helping Hand tips featuring hints and links to my online tutorials to guide you along to way.

I have also included fabric requirements for different sized quilts, including Lap, Single, Double & King.

The PDF version will be emailed to you on payment, while the paper pattern will be posted first class by Royal Mail.

Click on the pattern below to be taken to my Folksy shop.