Monday, November 14, 2011

Fabric choices and a technical quandry

Good morning! I have hexie news today! I am within a few green hexies of finishing the body of my small hexie project.  I need to choose a blue for the border, sew in a few blue hexies to fill in and then cut and sew on the border fabric. First things first... WHAT blue to use? I have, um, a few to choose from since blue is a favorite color around here and I have been collecting 30's repros for a while...


I have the blue versions of both the green fabrics I used (one is in the upper left corner and the other is not shown) as well as the blue version of the red flower centers (upper right corner). All of the fabrics shown have a very small second color to them, either red or yellow, pink in one case. I think from the photo the upper right corner fabric is winning out in my opinion. It has the right value to compliment the body of the quilt. I also like the  one at the far right and the one on the far left bottom. What do you think? I think I will look at them all together for a while, get your opinions and let it sit before I make a choice.

Now for the technical questions... all you hexie makers out there need to tell me how to proceed! I want the yellow flowers to have a complete (or pretty close) green hexie border around them surrounded completely by blue. I had planned on making the top and bottom edges straight (sewing across the points of the straight line of hexes) and filling in the 'dent' in the middle of the far right and left edges with three blue hexies. I think I will also need two blues in each corner to bring that out square. Then what? Should I unfold the seam allowances of the outer hexies and then sew a straight border strip on each edge? Should I just bag the whole sewing thing and applique the top onto a large piece of blue? Clearly, this is my first hex project and I am unsure how to finish it off! Advice please!

If you want to see what everyone else is up to this week hop on over to Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday. 

8 comments:

  1. I wish I could help you on the technical questions -- when you get an answer, you must share! Love the 30's prints you've used; so much fun! Have a great week! :)

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  2. I like the top row middle one, the top row right one, and the bottom row right one (in that order, although my first two choices are pretty close to even). Mostly b/c the yellow pops and brings out the yellow hexies. I think the bottom middle is too dark; the right side middle is too "modern" linear, the the two on the left side - I dunno, too "bland" or something ;)

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  3. As far as the blue - I liked the striped version on the right or the blue in the middle on the top.

    As far as finishing the edges - are you sure you want the top and bottom blossoms cut off for a flat edgeand curved sides? I enjoy the curved edges on all 4 sides and would (machine) applique them to the border.

    If you like the straight sides then I would add enough blue hexies to the sides so that you could cut those straight and add the border. Cutting straight will be much easier than applique but both techniques work and look great. I hope that helps...

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  4. Here's my stab at your technical questions. Yes, you can appliqué your hexie project directly onto a border - my friend just did this with purl cotton and a blanket stitch and it is adorable. This method preserves the great zig zaggy edge you get from hexagons. Yes, you can also just whack it off straight and sew it down. It's not a matter of right or wrong, it's a matter of what look you prefer for this project.

    My two favorite blues are the striped one on the left and the larger one on the upper left - both are a different scale than the green hexagons. If all the prints are the same size it seems a bit busy.

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  5. Can't help with the technical questions since I've never done this before. But I can encourage you by saying it is so pretty...keep going!

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  6. Hi Eden
    I love the darkest fabric in the left corner/bottom. It makes the hexies stand out more, so gives more contrast. If I were to do the rest I would applique the hexie border (without straiten it up) onto a border of blue fabric. Just make a border as wide as you like (include the extra wideness for the curved hexie border in this case) and just slip the border under the hexies and applique the whole lot onto the borderfabric. No waste of fabriuc underneath the hexies that you don't see and makes it only thicker to quilt. You can even glue the hexies onto the border first if you like, like in my tutorial today. Have a blast finishing up this gorgeous quilttop!

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  7. Beautiful hexies! Any one of those blues would sure work, but my eye was drawn first to the upper right corner one, too. Maybe it's the larger print that makes it stand out? :o)

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  8. If you haven't already surged ahead and added the blue -- I like the top right corner one since the print is a larger scale than the other ones. And, I recognize some of those prints... I think in the end you'll be happy with any of the blues... I can't wait to see what you do next.

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