Crazy Hexie Adventures {A LIttle Tutorial}

First I’d like to wish my hubby a Happy 18th Anniversary!  I can’t believe it’s already been 18 years…time really flies when you’re having fun.  Plus, I think it’s a great sign that neither of us has landed in the looney bin yet.  I guess we haven’t succeeded in driving each other bananas just yet.  Although it could happen.  All kidding aside, I sure am glad I married him 18 years ago.
The last couple of days I’ve been working on some little hexies for my Cuzco project {pictured below}.
I normally do raw edge applique but I decided to try something new.  Instead of just cutting hexies and appliqueing them onto the blocks, I’ve used the English paper piecing technique to turn under the edges.  This will eliminate the raw edges.  I really like how they’ve turned out so I thought I would share how I made them.
First, I printed my own templates on regular copy paper and cut them out.  Then I cut hexies out of my fabric.  The fabric hexies need to be at least 1/4″ larger than the paper hexies.  I actually think it would be easier if the fabric hexies were 3/8″ bigger.  Some of my fabric hexies were a little small and that made it hard to stitch them.
Next, the paper hexie is laid on the wrong side of the fabric hexie.  I folded each side {one at a time} of the fabric hexie over the paper hexie and tacked the corners.
It’s a little tricky to hold the fabric down and stitch at the same time but I eventually got into a rhythm.
When stitching, I was careful not to stitch through the paper.  I tied off the thread with a couple simple knots after all 6 sides were stitched.
Next, I pulled the paper template out.
That’s all there is to it.  I’m going to applique my hexies onto my blocks so the hand stitching ends here for me.  Normally, the hexies are sewn together by hand but I only need one hexie per block.
I’ve created a pdf file with {25} 3/4″ Hexagons if you would like to give it a try.  Let me know what you think if you do!  I’ve double checked that it prints at 3/4″ but you just never know with these crazy computers.  You can check the size by measuring one side of the hexie ~ it should be 3/4.”
Here’s a look at my finished hexie.  I fussy cut this one so the little flower is in the middle.  Well, close to the middle…it’s not exactly centered.
After two nights of hand stitching I have a little tower of hexies.
I think they turned out pretty nice.  They sure will look great on my blocks.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get my blocks finished soon so I can share pictures.

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