Thursday, September 4, 2014

A Hexagon Stars Quilt Tutorial





I had a nice lady named Amy contact me about a pattern for the hexagon stars quilt I have been working on.  Its not quite finished, but I think I have enough to make a good start.


Not sewn together yet.

Hexagons are a great take-a-long project. I take them to work on at lunch, doctor appointments and road trips.  I even look forward to getting my oil changed- that's usually a solid hour of uninterrupted sewing!

*To see a little of the history of this quilt go to the "hexies" tab at the top on the page.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on hexagon quilts. I just saw one I liked and did some research on the internet and have spent many hours and made some mistakes and have a pretty good idea of how it works now. My goal is to save someone else time and aggrevation and some money.

If you already have a preferred way of making hexies, you can skip this part. The following is the easiest and least expensive way I have found.

I purchased a Creative Memories punch on EBay. Of course by the time I decided that I needed one, they had been discontinued. So after watching most of the bids climb to an outragous price, I snagged one for a decent price and then Fiskars came out with 3 different readily available sizes of hexagon punches.
Go figure.


*I like the Creative Memories one a little better- it seems more sturdy- but any punch you can find will do.

The punch on the right gives you a 1.5 inch across and 3/4 inch sides.

Instead of punching regular printer-weight paper and sewing through it, I punch out cereal or cracker boxes and use a regular offiice hole punch to put a hole in the center of each one.


Here's a link to a great tutorial over at Jaybird Quilts on how to sew hexies. There are three steps, but you'll only need the first two for this quilt. While you're there, check out some of her other tutorials- Julie has her own collection of templates and rulers and is quite talented!

So I do mine pretty much like that except I use the cardboard boxes. I also put the rough side of the cardboard against the back of the fabric because it seems to keep it from sliding around.

For thread, I use hand quilting thread.  I keep white and light tan/neutral handy. Unless you are sewing very dark fabric, the light tan/ neutral works great for most colors. Use white thread if you're using bright white fabric for the background.


Also, get yourself a thimble. I have never been able to wear a thimble until I started this quilt. The tip of my middle finger got a hole in it, so I learned to use it pretty fast. I love the jelly thimbles and found mine at Hobby Lobby.

Fabric Requirements

For the white or background hexies you will need 1747 which comes to about 5 yards- get 5 1/2 to be safe. I just used the mid priced muslin.

 You will need 126 centers, so a 1/2 yard of 44 inch fabric will be plenty. I used yellow centers, but i think you could use any color as long as they were all the same. Just remember to use a color that you won't be using too many others places in the quilt.


I cut my fabric into 2 inch strips then about 2 inch squares. The square doesn't have to be exact, I just slide a cardboard hexie down the strip for a reference and cut as I go. Trim the corners to about 1/4 inch.


For all of the other colors, I just grabbed strips out of my 2 inch strip bin. You will need 2 inches of strip per hexie. For example, if you need 6 hexies, you will use a 12 inch strip, 18 hexies will require 36 inches.

There aren't any rules for fabric selection, except use decent 100% cotton that isn't too thick (like decorator fabric) and be positive that it will not bleed. You will spend a lot of time on this quilt and you want it to last. 

I made some of my circles and stars matchy, some I went with contrasting fabrics like purple and green or blue and yellow.

Start with the center hexie and add one from the inner ring. 


Keep sewing until you have a flower. If you are using directional prints, you might want to pay attention to the placement.  If I thought about it when I was sewing them, I tried to make them symmetrical. If you forget, that's OK too, they still turn out fine and you hardly notice in such a big quilt.


Continue with the next ring.


Then add your background ring.

The stars start out the same way.

Sew all the way around to complete the circle on the top.

 Make a center with two rings. The next ring will alternate two inner points, and one point edge. 


Make the points separately using five edges and one inner point.

   

Connect the points to the main body to complete the star.

When you're making a half star, start with the inner ring and outer ring then alternate two inner points an one point edge, but stop when you have this:


Leave off the last 4 hexies on the top.

Make three
Make two

Make three points out of six hexies and two small triangles.



Now add them to the main body like this.  Then add 10 white hexies to the straight edge.



For the circles, you need:
1 center
6 inner ring
12 outer ring
18 white


For the stars you will need:
1 center
6 inner
12 outer
18 inner triangles
36 point edges


For the half stars you will need:
1 center
6 inner
12 outer
15 inner triangles
23 point edges
10 white


Each three patch is made of 3 colored hexies and 3 white.


Each 4 patch is made of 4 colored hexies and 12 white.

For a large queen sized quilt, I made 35 stars,  7 half-stars, 84 circles, 12 four patches, and 7 three patches.


That's 5971 hexies! You don't need to punch out that many cardboard pieces.  When you're done with a circle, you can pop out all the cardboard in the center and put them towards the next circle.

Don't let the numbers scare you- it is not a race. I've been working on mine for almost 4 years and I can anticipate another year easy.

When you sew the hexies together, it starts out pretty easy. But once you get to the second ring on the circles, it really matters what direction you go.  Like how when you're sewing on a machine, its easier to sew with the bulk of the fabric on the left and not all bunched up under the arm. If you start having trouble handling your sewing, try turning it the other way. It sounds confusing, but you'll understand when you get to that point.


DO NOT pop out any cardboard hexies until they are completely surrounded. Its easier to sew when you still have the cardboard in there. So when you're finished with a circle you can pop out all of the inner hexies and just leave in the edges- same with the stars.

I use those containers that Crystal Light comes in hold hexies in progress.
You should be able to reuse the hexies several times before they get too bendy, then just pitch em.


Once you get all of the parts finished and you're ready to sew them together, arrange them how you like and take lots of pictures.  This is where the camera on your cell comes in handy. Also, you might need a ladder to get it all in one shot.

Sew the pieces together just like you sew the hexies together, match the edges up to one another and use a slip stitch on the back.


The photo above shows three columns and one half column already sewn together. The other half column is on the ground.


Here's a better picture of it.

I found it easier to sew half a column at a time, then sew all the columns together. Honestly, this is the hardest part, especially on such a large project. Find a comfy spot with a TV and just get to it- do not be discouraged.

* Remember, you can pop it the cardboard pieces as you go as long as they are surrounded.  In the end, you should have the entire quilt with just the edges that still have the cardboard.


Here's one more tip -when you're ready to add a half column, lay it out facing up and use a needle and thread to tack it to the main quilt every 4-5 hexies. This makes it easier to handle when sewing the larger pieces together. I used red thread in the above picture to make it easier to see.

As of this post, I have not decided how to quilt or bind this quilt. I may take to a longarm quilter or try to do it by hand myself- what's a few more years?  The edges are curvy, so a bias binding would work.  Or, I may use this method from Badskirt.

If you find this tutorial helpful, or if you have questions, or find errors (please be kind) or if you just want to share what you're working on, I'd love to hear from you!

19 comments:

  1. What a fabulous hexie quilt and post! Thanks for linking to hexie weekend. I will be back to drool over these. Great tutorial.

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  2. Your hexi quilt at the top is to die for. I am in love!

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  3. WOW--I am a real hexie lover and want to thank you for this tutorial on the stars and points--I use my GO!BABY accuquilt to cut freezer papers and then iron them to fabrics (1/2' spsrt) and cut out. leaving papers in until surrounded. I love your quilt--it is astoundingly gorgeous--oh no, another project for me this year!! hugs, Julierose

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  4. What an interesting tutorial! I read it with great interest. I do hexies and managed to learn a few tricks from you, like tacking large pieces and using boxes of food (I wonder why I did not think of that myself...).

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  5. Thank you so very much for your tutorial.Excellent directions. I only have 150 hexies made. Like you have I been looking for a punch and recently found the ones at Hobby Lobby. I will use the hundreds that I cut out by hand but if I make another will use one of the punches.

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  6. Your quilt looks lovely. Thanks for the tips on how to put the stars together.

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  7. thank you for the tutorial. Now *why* didn't I think of getting a paper punch to make the templates?!? I bet there's other shapes that would be useful too.

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  8. Thank you for the tutorial, and your quilt is very pretty - I love the colors. Now I fear there's a visit to the paper crafting department in my future....

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  9. Many thanks for all your time and effort putting this up for me to attempt lol.......... I just discovered the making a hexie out of a circle method and I am using that method for a change, Love your quilt and if mine turns out half as pretty as yours, I shall be very happy indeed.

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    Replies
    1. I have seen the circle method and tried it, but failed miserably. I may have to revisit it. Thanks for stopping by!

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  10. Wow, superb blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
    you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is great, as well as
    the content!

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  11. I just noticed that I haven't replied- thank you! I'm sorry to say that I haven't blogged or worked on the hexie quilt in quite a while. The blogspot forum is easy to use. I just played around with it and used other blogs as inspiration to get the hang of it. Lots of tutorials on Pinterest as well. Thanks again!

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  12. Hi, I read your blogs regularly. Your writing style is awesome, keep it up!

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  13. Keep working ,great job!

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  14. Merely wanna tell that this is invaluable, Thanks for
    taking your time to write this.

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  15. Hi, please let me know how did you quilt ( sandwich and bind) this gorgeous quilt. I do have about 4 years worth of this hexi stars, pribably 5000 hexis...your blog helped me to assemble top together. Is your ginished yet? Maria

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    1. Don’t know how I missed your comment- COVID I guess! Sadly I haven’t worked on the quilt in about 2 years. Once it got too big to take along, I stored it in a box and that’s where it sits. I keep thinking when it gets colder and there’s not so much to do outside, I may get back to it. Would love to see yours! Thanks for stopping by!

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  16. With your encouragement and great step-by-step instructions and photos I'm going to start my first hexie. How would you suggest quilting this masterpiece when it's completed?

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    1. Sadly, I haven’t made much progress. I think it would be best to have it quilted, then make a pieced hexie binding w/ right sides together, then flip it around to the back and whip stitch it down like traditional binding. I have started a new throw sized top w/bigger hexies that I plan to practice on before I try the real thing.
      Like this:
      http://badskirt.blogspot.com/2010/05/tutorial-finishing-you-hexie-quilts.html?m=1
      Let me know if you try it and how it turns out!

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I appreciate your comments!