Once again, we have more lovely hand stitching with cute hexies and my flower garden as inspiration. What could be sweeter? Love them both!
This time around, I ordered a big bag of 1-inch die-cut templates (found here), and made my own freezer paper patterns (with an added 1/4-inch seam allowance), to use as pattern guides for cutting around. I'm always thinking up ways to "cut corners" and whittle down tedious tasks, and this handy method makes cutting out hexies quick and easy! No pinning and no tracing required.
Sometimes I use fabric scraps to be thrifty and to get the variety of colors and patterns I want, and the smaller size of hexagon utilizes even the smallest of "crumbs". Always satisfying to use what you have. Waste not, want not, and all that. But when I need to cut more than a few, I go to my yardage.
For yardage, I use my rotary to cut strips. Or dip into my JellyRoll stash (above), saving myself another step! I knew you would like that too. I've found that the one-inch hexagon (with seam allowance) fits nicely within a 2-1/2" strip. (Naturally, for larger hexagons, you just cut your strips wider to accomodate a larger template.)
I like to layer four to six strips on top of each other for *maximum efficiency*. Any more than that gets tricky to cut. Then I iron a freezer-paper template on to the top strip and cut along one side to create "square bundles" with the template in the middle. Holding all layers securely (between thumb and fingers), I can easily cut around the sides of the template. Good sharp scissors are helpful, but accuracy is not a huge concern. All that really matters is that you have enough seam allowance to fold over the hexagon pattern to tack down around it.
All this cutting goes super quick because two of the sides are along the edge of the strip, so it's just a matter of trimming off the remaining four corners. Snip, snip, snip, snip. Done! I'm able to cut out short stacks in no time. I use the same freezer paper patterns over and over again too, so I only need a few of them.
Once the hexies have been basted around the pre-cut paper pieces, I store them in an embroidery floss organizer until I'm ready to stitch them together. They fit perfectly along with my pincushion, thread and thimble. Totally portable. Love that! And so pretty to look at. Reminds me of a watercolor paint box. Sooo many gorgeous colors.
Like a wonderful flower garden ripe for picking. Now I need to get started on a few projects using these darling little "flowers". I have a growing stack just sitting here waiting to be used in some creative way.
