Saturday, January 5, 2013

LITTLE HEXIES

"Flower Garden" quilts, or use of hexagons have become more popular recently.  I see many pins on Pinterest featuring quilts or bags made with them.  There are many ways to accomplish making these.  "English Paper Piecing" is one way, you can find packages of miniature hexagons. I haven't done a lot of searching on the internet, but I have seen them at vendors at the larger quilt shows. 
There are also teflon templates that are made by JUNE TAILOR .  I pick them up at JoAnns when there is a 50% coupon or sale.

Of course, these are too large for miniatures.  It may be a waste, but I have trimmed them down using my rotary cutter
 At the top is the original size.  I trimmed 1/4" off of each side to make the second size down which is a 3/4" size. 
You would think to make the smallest 1/2" size you would trim off 1/2".  Take my word for it.. don't do it that way.  The most accurate way to do it is to trim the initial 1/4", and then make a second round of trimming off 1/4".
Keep one of the next larger size to use as a pattern to cut the fabric

I will let this person's post show you how to do MINIATURE HEXAGONS

The difference between the teflon method and the paper method is that you press with the teflon template in and then remove the template.  The other way is somewhat like paper piecing, where you remove all of the papers at the end.

This is someone that uses the plastic templates also, and she gives her reasons to why she likes them. HAND SEWING HEXAGONS

This post is as much for me as for you.  I have had an idea for a while, and this will help me achieve it. 

Mini Happy Returns,
Teri

1 comment:

  1. Hi Teri, I enjoy doing minis and Love your minis. I think of mine as "small", I have only done one real mini. I read your process and thought you might like to know about nanocad.com. It's a free (really free) CAD program, but this one is relatively easy to use. You can draw blocks, like hand drafting, print at ANY scale. I do a lot of borders for big quilts using this. I see your hand drafted strips, looks familiar to me. If you want to try CAD and have any questions on getting started, contact me. My blog is "cubiclequilts.com" I am thinking about doing a quick instruction on getting started with CAD, but my local group showed little interest in computers, so I am slacking. Terry

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