LESSON 3 - designing with colors of hexigons

HereÂs where you can be creative. Sort the hexigons into stacks by value, color, or any helpful organization.

Place your blocks on the design area, however improvised, so that the middle unsewn seam is vertical. Spread out the hexigons in any pattern with edges touching each other until you get something you like and stand back. DonÂt start sewing until you have moved them around a bit over several days, analyzing it each time you pass by. If you are a "snap decision" person, eliminate this step. You might think you like it one way and then the next day find you like it even better by moving a few. Let the kids help if you like. Hold up a mirror and look at it in the mirror in reverse. This is the fun part. If you have a few that just donÂt fit in, set them aside. We need some leftover halves to fill in the edges and they will work fine split apart. IÂve even had some with blank dark centers that I couldnÂt use at all. I have been known to take them back to the machine and rip out the seams, making a new one with triangles turned another way for a better pattern. But, I try to do it right the first time now. At some point I have to say "stop" and start sewing it together. I could move things around for days.

Now for the assembly of your "blocks". This is the work part. Once youÂve chosen your final design and you have them touching, you will unpin and separate that middle seam and pin each half to the one above it going down from top to bottom in a row (figure 9).

figure 9

This will form long columns of half-hexigons that nest together. YouÂll need some halves to fill in the blanks on the sides.

When you have a them all pinned take down one strip at a time to sew, marking them well as this can get confusing if you mix them up.

Sew each half hexigon to the one above it with ¼" seam. Your seams should come to a point and the point will be about ¼" from the edge (see figure 10).

figure 10

Once the columns are sewn into strips, align the strips matching (and pinning) your triangle seamed points and sew the seam from top to bottom until you have them all joined up. You fill in the irregular side edges with half hexigons to make it straight but youÂll trim the top and bottom off with the rotary cutter when they are all sewn. You could fill in those gaps with scraps but it saves time to just cut it all off straight. You can square it up and trim all around if you like and no one will be the wiser if it wasnÂt perfectly square to begin with. This is a very forgiving process.

In the next lesson weÂll talk about finishing it off and other creative ideas.

Linda