Hexies!

When I was at Camp Stitchalot last month, Katy Jones gave us all a quick lesson in English Paper Piecing and a little project to do there or take along home. Now, I have seen hexies around, but never had the urge to try something I thought was a bit too labor and time intensive for a hobby (if you know me, you'd know if I can't get a machine to help me do it, it's quite possibly not worth doing). It's one thing to think, "oh, that's amazing, but I'll never try that!" upon seeing other people's work, but when someone places it into your hands, in Cotton + Steel fabrics no less, you've got to at least do one, right?

Then one turns into 14, because, um, you know how everyone says they're addictive? Well, it just so happens that they're addictive, and also easy:


And 14 turn into a mason jar pincushion:


Katy gave us directions at Camp, but Riley Blake has a fairly similar tutorial here.

And now I'm looking around for another English Paper Piecing project. And I'm going to make a Noodlehead's Road Trip Case to carry all my supplies.

Then maybe I'll attempt this amazing pincushion, made by my friend Melissa from a tutorial by Kristy of St Louis Folk Victorian:


Or something like the patchwork on this Sew Together bag, made by my friend Vicky:


I have a few blogger bundles collected in my stash that would be quite amazing as little bags and pouches like this!

Hopefully I have convinced you to adopt this yourself. It's a good little offshoot to machine quilting, it's great for travel, poolside, or just sitting on the couch, and the supplies you need are few.

All you need to English Paper Piece:
-fabric
-hexagon papers
-a good handwork needle - I used Black Gold needles, and they are super thin and just the perfect length.
-thread and/or glue (though I just use thread)
-scissors
-and something to secure the fabric to the paper - a pin, a wonder clip, a paper clip...

Many of these you probably already have, but we do have a paper piecing kit in the shop, which will get you everything but the scissors and fabric. Though, if you're reading this blog, it's likely you have both those things already.

If you're wondering how to get started with hexies, Lori Holt's hexie tutorial on her blog, Bee in my Bonnet is a good place to start.

And if you make any projects with hexies or without, we'd love to see them in our Made with Pink Castle Fabrics Flickr pool.

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