(Circa 1930 from Old Quilt Company).
Above is a thrifted find that Amy @ Diary of a Quilter found... it is pieced, not quilted yet.
Aside from being absolutely gorgeous, there is just something so special about how much time and care goes into making one of these quilts. Whenever I see one, I can't help but think of the woman who pieced each of those hexagons together by hand and wonder what she was like. I wish she could know that years later, I still appreciate the result of her hours of patient work.
There is a point to all of my rambling... I have decided to take on the challenge of making a hexagon quilt by hand. I'm estimating that I will probably finish it by 2025. Maybe.
I've been looking into different techniques for this type of quilt. Traditionally, these quilts are made by paper piecing. Basically, you wrap the fabric around a hexagon shaped paper, and pin it in place until you have sewn them together. There is a great tutorial for this on Thimble Blossoms. In this tutorial, the fabric is cut down to a hexagon shape as well... with a 1/4" seam allowance on all sides:
Posie Gets Cozy shares how to paper piece with a square piece of fabric (instead of having to cut the fabric down to hexagons). This technique is what I am leaning toward right now... sounds slightly less tedious, but still is the traditional way of making a hexagon quilt:
For a modern and less tedious version of this quilt, I love Amber's Sunshine Hexagon Quilt from Fancy Tiger Crafts:
While her quilt captures the hexagon quilt style, her hexagons are actually a foot across, and she used a technique where she cuts her hexagons in half to avoid sewing corners. The end effect is still so lovely though!
I'm currently in the process of getting my fabric ready. I like the idea of making my quilt out of vintage-looking fabric, so I tried my hand at bleaching some vibrant colored fabric today... with varying degrees of success. I'll share soon. :)
Have any of you ever tried making a hexagon quilt? Are you lucky enough to have inherited one?
4 comments:
In Love.
I don't sew or quilt. But you know that!
I can't wait to see what you make.
There's actually a way to machine piece hexagon quilts, although it seems extra tedious to me (and there's more room for errors for those of us who tend to be lazy with the details). Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQG0V42O0fI
Posie Gets Cozy's method is pretty good, although I still like to cut my pieces into approximate hexagons. My process is as follows:
(1) Fold fabric so that I'm cutting through 4 layers.
(2) Cut out strips of fabric (4 at a time) to be a little wider (about 1/4"-1/2" on each side) than my hexagon template.
(3) Cut the strips so that each approximate square is 1/4"-1/2" taller on each side than my hexagon template.
(4) Cut off corners of ~squares into approximate hexagon shapes.
This way, you're cutting a whole bunch of fabric hexagons at a time. Not nearly as tedious as the sewing part of the process!!
I make Eye Spy quilts using hexagons. By interspersing triangles, they come together a little more easily. Just sew a triangle on either side of the hexagon to get a diamond, then dew diamonds into rows and rows into your quilt!
http://bonnieprojects.blogspot.com/2011/08/eye-spy-baby-quilt.html
Mandy,
I have inherited some hexagon blocks ready to place into a quilt. They were my mother's, but none of my sister's remember her actually sewing them. It could be that she got them at a thrift store or maybe a yard sale, but they are definitely made from vintage fabric. I am thinking about finishing the quilt myself to use on my guest bed, or maybe to sew very very tightly and securely and use it to recover a loveseat in my Master Bedroom...I saw a picture of a couch like that on Brayton Home interiors Facebook page.It was GORGEOUS!
Hve fun making your quilt. I haven't quilted tons, but I do enjoy it when I do it.
Lanette
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