Making Double-faced Plain Hexies and Half Hexies

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Day 11

A Plain Hexie is like a tiny quilt in itself – just two layers of fabric, plus, if you want, some batting. The Half Hexies are for achieving straight edges all around a larger quilt, but also within the quilt.

On this page:
♣ Materials and tools today
♣ A note on the templates for Plain Hexies
♣ The Sew First, Cut Later method
♣ Half Hexies
♣ Tracing multiple Plain Hexies
♣ For you to do
♣ Next time

Materials and tools today

• fabric (two scraps for one hexie – any colour or pattern
• marking pen or pencil/sharpener
• sewing thread and needle
• scissors for cardboard and fabric
• pins or safety pins

Click on images for larger view

A note on the templates for Plain Hexies

The Plain Hexie templates – as you find them in the pdf – are intended for machine sewing. The seam allowance (= the space between the dotted and the continuous line) is about 6 mm // 1/4 inch, so you can just align the cut edges with the footer of your sewing machine (it’s best to make a test hexie and measure it) >> tracing around the template will give you the line for cutting the fabric.

Cutting the Plain Hexie Template to adjust it for hand sewing

For hand sewing, cut the template right on the dotted line >> tracing around the template will give you the line for sewing the fabric, which means you need to add the seam allowance before you start cutting.

BUT: Both for hand sewing and machine sewing there is a different way, which I personally prefer because it leads to precise results without requiring precise cutting, a great advantage when cutting with scissors: Sew first, cut later.

The Sew First, Cut Later method

For a large Plain Hexie I use the Small Flower Hexie Template, which is slightly larger than the normal one and just right for what I want to do.

I haven’t added an equivalent template for making a small Plain Hexie with the sew first, cut later method as the tracing wasn’t precise enough – I recommend you use the cut-down template (see above) and estimate the seam allowance when cutting (see also end of tutorial).

Tracing

Material and tools: Enough fabric for two hexies *** the Plain Hexie Template or (for a large hexie) the Small Flower Template *** marking pen or pencil *** pins or safety pins *** glue stick *** scissors

I place the two scraps of fabric right sides together – or, like here, fold a larger piece of fabric right sides together. I pin the two layers.

I trace the hexie inside the template,…

…and mark the corners by twirling the pencil a bit. – As I sew, I handle the fabric, and sometimes the lines disappear – the dots don’t, at least not as easily.

I also trace outside – this indicates the seam allowance = cutting line.

Because there’s enough room, I trace another hexie. – Towards the end of this tutorial I show you how to place hexies on a larger piece of fabric.

Here are the two traced hexies – I hope you can see the lines.

Sewing & cutting

For sewing the seams I use a combination of a few Running Stitches and a Backstitch. The stitches can be fairly long because the seams don’t need to be strong, but the Backstitches are necessary to keep the thread tight so the seams won’t open, especially at the corners.

I begin at a corner. As usual, I make a small stitch, leave a tail, and tie that tail down with a small Buttonhole Stitch. All stitches are right on the line.

Then I gather a few Running Stitches, for a large hexie like this up to the middle. They don’t need to be very small, as this seam does not have to be strong. – With a small hexie, the last stitch comes up right at the next corner.

I pull the thread through…

…make a small Backstitch…

…gather more stitches (the last comes out at the corner) and pull the thread through.

This is the reverse.

At the corner I make a small Backstitch which comes out just after the corner and pull the thread through.

From there I make a small Backstitch right into the corner,…

…gather a few Running Stitches, and so on for five edges.

At the last corner, that is with only one edge to go which will remain open for turning the hexie, I make a small Backstitch…

…and then secure the thread with a small Buttonhole stitch, right on the line.

I baste the last edge closed – this way I can easily press this open seam in a straight line – and pull the needle off the thread.

Two hexies are sewn.

I cut along the marked pencil line.

As I get to the second hexie, I just cut them apart.

The cut hexie.

If I leave the seams as they are, there will be a lot of bulk in the corners once the hexie is turned. – I hold the scissors as if I wanted to cut along the seam, but I cut only until just before the seam (distance: a few threads).

Then I turn the hexie very slowly while cutting even slower until the scissores seem to come from the direction of the seam.

You can see better what I mean on this photo – there’s a slight curve next to the corner, and the direction of the cuts are the same direction as the seams.

Basting

After much skepticism, I’ve come to love basting with a glue stick, at least in cases like this where I only need temporary hold but can’t use pins.

The trick is to apply sufficient but not too much glue – try the edge of the glue stick which gives a thinner line. After basting with glue stick, let it dry. That can take up to an hour, but you can speed it up by ironing (between two pieces of baking paper, just in case the glue has spread beyond the flaps).

Most glue sticks wash out of most fabrics with warm water and a bit of detergent, but when in doubt, test it first.

Note: Basting is not an obligatory step. If you want to do without, finger crease the open edge well, from both sides, before you remove the basting thread. Then turn the hexie inside out.

On a hard surface, I apply a bit of glue stick on the seam allowance “flaps”, all along the seam.

I fold the upper flap onto the fabric and finger press it. The seam itself guides me with achieving a straight line.

I do this all around.

Then I remove the basting thread. I leave it out if I want to use it to sew the open edge closed after turning the hexie, else I cut it, leaving a tail.

I flip over the hexie and again I apply glue.

It’s not absolutely necessary, but I hide the thread tails as I fold over the seam allowance.

Like this.

I can also fold the flaps “in the air” – helps me to see better whether the corners are neat.

Here an edge where both flaps are folded, right by the seam.

At the open edge, I haven’t got the basting thread as a guide any more, so I align the second fold exactly with the first one.

Turning the hexie inside out

With the opening facing downwards, I get hold of the fabric on both sides and pull the hexie apart.

With my thumbs I push the top downwards…

…until it appears through the opening.

I pull it out completely…

…and then straighten the fabric until it starts resembling a hexie.

For shaping the corners, you can use your scissors if the tips are rounded enough to not puke through the seam. I made myself a custom tool for turning small items: An old pencil with rubber on one end…

…and with the tip broken off. I also scraped out some of the lead as I don’t want pencil smudges.

This tip is fine yet blunt enough to push the corners into shape. Sometimes they want to hide – check whether you can see all the stitches.

Finger pressing all edges.

In this example I have left the basting thread. I could use it to stitch the opening shut with ladder stitch (alternating stitches in the upper and lower fold)…

…but I don’t, so I cut it off and tuck it in.

Note: In most cases I don’t close the open edge it’ll be closed automatically when I sew the hexies together (more on this when I show you how to join them).

Half Hexies

Depending on how you fold them, you get two different Half Hexies: edge-to-edge or point-to-point.

For Half Hexies I trace the whole hexie on the wrong side of a single layer of fabric…

…and cut it with a seam allowance.

I fold it right sides together, align the corners and insert a pin right into the corner dot of the top layer…

…and coming out at the corner dot of the reverse layer.

I push the pin through right on the seam line.

When folding point-to-point, the Half Hexie looks a bit like a house. It’s got three pins.

This Half Hexie is folded edge-to-edge, with two pins.

When sewing an edge-to-edge Half Hexie, sew two edges, secure the thread, and baste the third edge which will be the opening.

With the point-to-point Half Hexie, the edges right by the fold are too short for turning the hexie comfortably. Here’s what I do:

• secure thread near the fold
• sew short edge to first corner
• secure thread
• baste this first long edge (if I want to use the basting thread later to close the gap, I leave sufficient extra thread before I secure it at the next corner)
• secure thread at second corner
• sew all the way to the end
• secure thread and cut

Before turning the hexie, all I need to do is to cut through the basting thread and remove it.

You probably won’t need to snip off any seam allowance at the folds.

Tracing multiple Plain Hexies

When you want to make several Plain Hexies with the same fabrics, you can economise fabric by arranging them in honeycomb fashion (the tracing didn’t come out well on this photo, you can see it better in the enlarged view – click the image).

If you don’t want to trace the seam allowance, just make sure you’ve got a distance of twice the seam allowance on all sides between the hexies!

Tracing multiple hexies in a honeycomb arrangement.

For you to do

Make at least one Plain Hexie, and perhaps one each of the Half Hexies.

Next time

Next week we’re going to tie up some loose ends:

• how to insert batting (or a layer of flannel or terry cloth)
• “loopy” stitches
• different ways of joining the hexies

Now that we’ve covered most of the basics – and I’m sure you’ve started developing project ideas of your own – I also want to show you some projects I’ve made / am still making this weekend. Which is why I’m not quite sure yet about the order of the tutorials and whether the next post will be on Monday.

Stay tuned!

If you have any questions, please post them in the comments 🙂

Maria