Tuesday 30 December 2014

Miniature Hexagon Patchwork, The Joy of using Hexagons each side measuring 5mm.

Miniature Hexagon Patchwork, The Joy of using Hexagons each side measuring 5mm.  

During the Christmas holidays I came across a tin of unfinished hexagon projects.  The common feature being miniature or small.  Tidying and sorting made my fingers itchy to finish or restart at least one of the started pieces.

Unfinished miniature patchwork projects by Jackie Wills

For those who have been reading my previous blogs, my last big project was using 10cm hexagons, each side measuring 5cm.  I almost became complacent and sleepy sewing large hexagons.  Jumping to the extreme I picked up the unfinished work using hexagons with each side measure 5mm.  Quite a difference,  but exactly the same technique magnified.  Yes, using 1cm hexagons with sides of 5m is fiddly.   Enjoyably fiddly.

If you plan to do this yourself I would recommend long natural thumbnails, they become a great tool folding fabric with precision over the miniature 90gsm hexagon papers.  Sewing darker colours together using matching thread makes sewing less easy, do not succumb and use light thread to sew dark hexagons together.  It will wreck the look. 

Last night I accidently put on an older pair of reading glasses and could not understand why I struggled to view my stitches. Made a massive difference using proper glasses and a good overhead lamp.  

My personal preference is to allow plenty of fold over fabric, creates a bit of bulk on the back but adds texture.  The deep purple fabric hexagons have been created using quite heavy chintz, so the purple hexagons have been hard to keep accurate.  See hexagon centred on fabric image below top right.

Do not use irregular badly covered hexagons, as they will spoil the overall look.  I noticed a real difference using lighter weight turquoise fabric, perhaps more dense and harder on the needle but much easier to fold over the paper hexagons.   

I find using a long fine crewel needle size 10 far easier than a shorter length big eye quilting needle.  Size 9 is OK, size 8 not recommended.  Compare the needles in your sewing box and experiment with the size that works for you.  

Paper hexagons can be purchased from www.patchworktemplates.co.uk

See miniature hexagon patchwork demonstrations: https://www.youtube.com/user/thejaxcollection

My renewed enthusiasm for this project of old has been most rewarding.   Like a good book its hard to put down, making one more hexagon often leads to a string of six and 20 minutes lost time......


Miniature hexagon patchwork by Jackie Wills using 1cm hexagons, each side 5mm


2 comments:

Treasure It Always said...

I love these mini hexies...I have done regular size, but never this size.

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