I had no business starting another English Paper Piecing (EPP) project but I did it anyway. Having a slow sewing project on the go continues to give me so much pleasure, and while I have yet to baste and quilt several of my already completed EPP quilt tops, this one quietly slipped in without any guilt or regret, and has now been added to my pile of finished quilt tops.
Click on any photo for a larger view.
A traditional 1 inch Hexagon Scrap Quilt has been on my quilty bucket list for some time. I just love the look of scrappy patchwork and by keeping the hexagon pieces relatively small I get to use many of my favorite stash fabrics. As you can see, many of the fabrics have been fussy cut to feature a design element (it seems I have many different fabrics with strawberries!). If you've been quilting - and collating a fabric stash for a while - I think you will recognise many of the prints that I have used. Some fabrics have been around for quite some time, and others are fairly recent additions to my stash.
Making this quilt top has been a labor of love! Just like any hand pieced quilt, the process is very time consuming. I spent a lot of time cutting fabric pieces. Most fabrics have been repeated up to four times, and I estimate to have used up to 300 different fabrics. I really do enjoy pulling fabric from stash and can happily spend days cutting hexagons, watching the pile of hexies grow. All fabrics were cut by using a rotary cutter and an acrylic hexagon template.
I continue to glue baste my papers/fabrics for English Paper Piecing and have no trouble keeping the papers in place for as long as is required, nor do I have difficulty removing the papers. Most of the hexagon papers used for this quilt were previously used to piece my Scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt.
All the photos shown here are of the quilt top after the papers have been removed, except for along the very edges of the quilt top. Pictured above is a photo of what the back of the quilt top looks like.
QUILT DETAILS
Scrappy Hexagon Quilt
The quilt top measures approximately 53 inches x 63 inches.
Started: June 2019.
English Paper Pieced.
1 inch hexagons.
A total of 1332 Hexagons.
To keep my project portable - sew anywhere, anytime - I pieced 16-patch blocks.
Step 1 :: Piece strips of four hexagons together as pictured above.
Step 2 :: Piece four strips together into a 16-patch block as pictured below.
A total of 324 strips of four hexagons (Step 1).
A total of 81 16-patch blocks (Step 2).
I then arranged the 81 blocks in 9 rows of 9 blocks,
pieced the blocks together in vertical rows,
and finished by piecing together the vertical rows with
a long vertical seam.
TOOLS AND NOTIONS
1 Inch Hexagon Papers
1 Inch Acrylic Hexagon Template with 3/8" seam allowance.
Water Soluble Basting Glue - Sewline.
Straw Needles - Size 11.
The Bottom Line 60wt thread by Superior Threads.
Points to note:
- Whenever possible I like to ensure that my fabric pieces are cut and sewn together on grain. This should result in a nice and flat completed quilt top with the least stretch and fabric movement, which will make basting and quilting easier.
- Removing papers as you go makes for much more comfortable piecing. I started removing papers when sewing together blocks into vertical rows.
- Once the quilt top was completed I decided to add one extra row of hexagons (36 hexies) to add an additional 2 inches to the length of the quilt.
My goal is to baste this quilt top by the end of the week, and then start quilting it next week. I have already sorted through my fabric stash for a suitable quilt back, and cut a piece of batting to size. Now ready for basting ....
Thank you for stopping by and for scrolling through the many photos!
Rita
RELEVANT LINKS
More RPQ Scrap Quilts:
More RPQ English Paper Pieced Quilts:
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