Friday, October 14, 2011

{Post #832} Hexagon Trial and Error


All three of my kids in braces had orthodontist appointments this AM...that makes me :) because I get to hand sew while I'm in the waiting room.  Those ladies always wonder why I'm so pleasant when I'm there ;)

I tried a new technique for sewing the hexagons together.  It is a tad slower than just putting them face-to-face and whip stitching them, but the threads do not show on the outside (see the last picture above--greens are sewn the new way, blossom parts the old).  I saw on the 'net recently where a woman irons her templates after she pulls them out.  I'll give that a whirl when I get near the ironing board again.  Instead of putting the hexagons with right sides together, I just held it flat in place and took smaller stitches.  I might try to get a photo of that later, but it's working!!  I have read several bloggers' explanations of how they sew their hexies together, and I have never come across one that does it "my" way.  They must have more success with their stitches not showing.

I ran out of hexagons that were pre-basted.  You can see in the top picture that I need to add a couple green hexies before I have a finished horizontal "row".  I will add my already sewn together red and cream flowers, then try adding a row at a time.  With my new method, I think that will be much faster and economical with time and sanity.  Could use more of both. 

The possibility of a bed-sized Grandmother's Flower Garden is still out there, but it might take forever.  Seeing that Bonnie Hunter admitted to working on her hexagon project for 12 years does make forever seem a little shorter.

~Joan

3 comments:

Saska said...

I so want to start one of these. Are you cutting your own template hexagons?

Raewyn said...

Very intersting... I would love to see a photo to see how you mean. I keep giving my gfg quilt deadlines (eg it would be nice tohave it finished for...) then decide that I just want to do this one as and when I like with no pressure... I'm hoping for less than 12 years though!!

Me and My Stitches said...

They look great - now I want to see how you hold onto those while stitching them together - I haven't tried it yet!