Stonefield's Hexagons and How I Sew Them

Here are the hexagons that I have finished for the outer border of my Stonefield's quilt.  These are made from fabrics that are brighter than I usually sew with, but I think they will look nice on the outside border of the quilt.  Stonefield's is a pattern by Susan Smith, and I think the blocks kind of lend themselves to brighter, fun fabrics. 

I've had people ask how I can sew hexagons together so quickly.  I've tried different methods of sewing my hexagon flowers together.  This one seems to work best for me, and I feel like it's the fastest method.  (I'm not an expert.  I'm just sharing how I sew mine together. ) 

 

First I glue baste my english paper piecing.  I'm not doing heirloom sewing.  I'm just making quilts for my own enjoyment.  I use the Sewline glue pen, and I buy my refills from Amazon here.  

These are glue basted.  I cut a 3/8" seam allowance on my hexagons so if I've fussy cut a fabric I've got some wiggle room to center it.  I sew my hexagons using the flat back/ladder method.  There are a lot of good videos out there showing this method.  You can see by the position of my needle how this works.  I can start my hexagons this way, but if you have trouble getting started you can put the right sides of the hexagons together and take the first couple of stitches that way.  Then you can hold them flat like you see in the photo below.  Most every quilt with hexagons has 2 hexagons sewn together like you see in the photo below.  So I start by sewing a lot of sets of 2 hexagons together.

 

A hexagon flower has 3 sets of 2 hexagons sewn together so I start by sewing them in pairs.  

Now sew them into a ring leaving an opening.  

Now you can choose a center hexagon and finish sewing the hexagon together with just one thread.  This avoids the starting and stopping, and I think it goes so much faster because after you make the ring, you only have to thread your needle once to add the center and finish closing the hexagon flower.  I start at the arrow, go around and out where I left the opening.  

I keep a container of odd hexagons made from scraps or something that I think would make a good fussy cut center.  

Here are a few centers that I've auditioned from my container above for the center of this hexagon.  

And, here's the finished hexagon flower ready for my Stonefield's quilt.  

Here are a few more that I've sewn.  I know there are a lot of ways to sew these little flowers together.  This is just the way that I do it.  

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.  

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

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