A Morning of Sewing

Finally a bit of free time in the sewing room! Thanks so much for hanging in there with me.

Words cannot express how much I've missed piecing & sharing with you along the way.

To get back into the swing of things, I'm fussy cutting hexagons and am having a blast. 

They're ideal for practicing the Y seam **also known as set-in and inset seams**. While the larger sizes are good practice, it's great to get some smaller ones in, too once you're comfortable with the process {especially if you're considering taking on Jane}.

For those of you who love the look of fussy cut hexagons, you're probably going to be cutting with shears. People still use scissors to cut with? SHOCKING, isn't it?? LOL

It's true, there are some fancy machines available to shave some time off prep work but I've yet to find one that meets my needs. I've even toyed with rotary cut hexagons for a while but wasn't thrilled with the results and found it didn't save much time because to do them, you press your fabric strip in half. Try getting that center press out without distorting a little hexi! It comes in handy for your solid pieces but to highlight your favorite fabrics, it's not the best method.

MACHINE PIECED Hexagons

In any case, I'm taking it back to old school methods and am thrilled with the results. To make my templates, I use graph paper. I glue the shape on to template plastic and cut it out. That's it. Easy Peasy. On the rare occasion I'm out of template plastic, I have been known to use poster board or cereal boxes but they do not maintain their shape long if you're rotary cutting....fine for shears if you're careful. 

I do have one go-to acrylic for hexagons....it's a green Darlene Zimmerman Hexagon Template by EZ Quilting/Wrights. It's a bit hard to use for cutting piles of the same size hexagons, but a perfect reference tool.

It's great to be back!!

Happy Sewing,

Heather

=)