I pop my cutting mat under where I pop my needle. It saves scratches l another left hander I see . Hehe , the quilting looks very nice . And different ,

Superior MonoPoly thread, is the best “invisible” thread to use in Sewing/Quilting. Not only is it strong, it won’t go brittle, or “yellow” over time, and can withstand heat, unlike the Monofilament thread…..it also “behaves itself” in the bobbin compartment of your sewing machine. In all my years of quilting, I have always used Superior MonoPoly thread, in most of my quilting projects, and have never had any problems.

Beautiful lights in your sewing space.

I finger press the seam in half and match the centers

🎄🎄🎄❤️❤️❤️

Anna Maria Parry was recently showing part of her home and she has a window covering of hexagons that looked appliquéd. It was really lovely with the light shining through.

I’ve ironed on my cutting mat too 🤦🏻‍♀️

I loved your video, you were easy to watch and listen to! I was curious why use monofilament thread though? I read every comment hoping for something beyond “don’t use it” lol. But again curious why you chose that? I have been wanting to try a hexagon quilt, and you gave me just enough courage to try. Thank you! Clicking the subscribe button now to see what’s next. 😊

Fabulous quilt. Such a beautifully done work of art.

Hi there is a foam hexagon shape that you don’t have to remove got that from Ema Jones in England she is a young lady who does all hexagons

You don't have to do all that back stitching. Sewing onto the next block will lock it in.

StitchingaPath The monofilament rot was the first thing I thought of when I was watching this. There have been different types of clear thread, nylon and polyester come to mind. The first stuff was like light-weight nylon fishing line - horrible!!! I would experiment with thread weights. Thinner thread is usually used in the bobbin and tightened a bit when doing machine embroidery because it will pull the thicker, fancier threads a bit to the back a bit. Normal sewing thread is 50 to 60 weight. The higher the number, the finer the thread. The other thing about the monofilament thread is that it does come in a smoke color which shows up less on darker fabrics. The early monofilament was shiny. I made a machine quilted wall-hanging using early stuff and had to rip it all off to keep from having it glare at me whenever I saw it. Restitching with the newer version fixed that. When you were hand-stitching the paper pieces, I realized that you also could machine zigzag them with a bit looser/wider stitch using monofilament or neutral thread to stitch over the edges of two pieces in the same way you would stitch by hand. Pulling them apart flat after stitching would be similar to hand stitching. Stitching from the back might be more invisible, but maybe not. I LOVE trying ideas on how to do things - probably at least as much as actually making things now! I used to get frustrated when my dad would do that and now I understand!

I am currently making a hexagon quilt with my granddaughter - all by hand. My arthritic thumbs are taking a beating so I was interested to see your experiment with doing it with a sewing machine. I think I like your dot to dot method best. I’ve had some bad experiences with monofilament thread for quilts that are used for years. Thanks so much for sharing everything!

The sun will rot that clear thread in a curtain I would think. Love your video!

This is great. I also use a 401 but a German model. Beautiful machines. I’m going to try these methods and see which is best. Dot to dot looking good.

Loved this video. Oopsie, definitely not recommended to iron on your cutting mat. BUT neither is it recommended to use your ironing mat on top of your cutting mat - this too will cause your cutting mat problems.

I would love to see the Roman shade pull-up shade that you’re going to do and how you do that! Loved your video

Love your 401A. I love mine and my 301.

Sherri McConnall at a Quilting Life has a Wide bac that is called a Cheater Fabric that is Hexigon Fabric Printed Fabric. Why not buy yardage and make your Roman Blinds?

For the appliqué method, you could also use a shortened zigzag to go between the hexagons, if you use a contrast thread, it would become a design feature then. You could also use a decorative stitch that goes back and forth across the center line and that could be interesting, too.

If doing a quilt I put my wadding in place of the paper using a single sided fusible wadding . No need to removed or wadding afterwards . I can see me doing the same sort of things as you , so easy to do. Wonder if the pros ever do the same thing . Guess we will never know 😀 I wonder if the monofilament thread would be strong enough for a quilt , as it would need to be able to be able to pulled around a lot on the bed . Thanks for sharing .

I love this video and how you share the "oops" that happen to us all! I got very excited when I saw your sewing machine. I started on one like that over 50 years ago! My mom got a new one, and I got her old one. I wish I'd known then to spend the money on it to keep it running. Best machine I ever had, and because there was no electronic or plastic parts, it was very powerful!

Great video! Wonderful to see so many machine methods. I think I liked the fabric backed one the best and wonder what the stitching would look like with 100 wt thread…I have a phobia of monofilament. Foe small pieces, I just watched Lori the texstylist demo hand piecing diamond shaped pieces. Looked pretty easy…no paper to pull out, no stitches showing, portable, etc. you may want to look her up😊

I have in the past only used Mylar Hexies for the one quilt I made. Never thought I’d ever go down that road again. 2024, I’ve been dragged back in to this form of quilting. I just love the blue tape and flat back sewing. My pain was I held the two parts way too tight when I did the original whip stitch. Never could master not having the thread show on front. Ok on my quilt cause it was my first and only ( ha). So I’ve fallen in love with EPP with all the shapes now available. Making little zipper bags has been a blast and great take along project. Thanks for sharing. Join your channel, I so enjoyed your whole presentation. Keep on the machine, it’s a great power tool. My fave for sure.

Love your vintage Singer! I have one too

I have made dozens of quilts, piecing is great. Quilting with the walking foot works fine. However when i tried free motion i got some skipped stitches and some thread breaks 😢 But to be fair, i also tried my viking, my 2 industrial machines, a brother, two basic 80s machines, and my sister's Nelco. I decided the problem might be me😮😅and now I have a Moxie for Quilting.

You did an excellent job, you power through! I’ve been intimidated using the sewing machine since my capri pants project in high school. This year, I befriended a sewing machine called Brother HC1850 and it seems that we get along very well after some challenges. We might even be BFF, me & Brother🤩 Thanks for being real and showing us the challenges you incurred. You give us hope.

Oh my! You have a LOT of patience, I so admire that quality. Thank you for the basting close-ups , very helpful! Your quilt is so beautiful!!! Just wow! And I agree with not cutting the edges, your quilt looks happy and complete and each one of the hexagon is treated equally ☺️. I love Sashiko. I hope one day you’ll show us some of the projects you are doing or had done. I did little Boro projects like rice bags, coasters etc. I’m a novice on all hand sewing but I love this hobby. Liked & subscribed. Thanks again!

Hi! Thanks for showing us different techniques and the “oops” moments are very much appreciated. My concern re monofilament ( I use them as well in other projects) is the melting factor of the monofilament thread. I read that the polyester type is heat resistant up to 300F . I will test it using the iron and test it in the dryer before doing a large project. And if your finished project needs washing & drying, maybe it’s a strong factor to consider. Thank you for a good video content ❤.

Use a Krista Moser Creative Grids 60 degree ruler to cut your hexagons or half hexagons. Much better. She uses lots of great techniques.

I love the cat tree going up to the skylight!

My brain: "It's morning...😊I can do anything!" My brain: "Afternoon...NOPE! 😵Ain't gonna happen!"

What if you do the applique to a backing fabric but... sew the hexies to the wrong side of the backing fabric so the print shows on one side & hexies on the other.

I enjoyed this very much!! Learned a lot! Thank you!

Love seeing someone else who appreciates their vintage Singer😊 I've been a professional seamstress for 40+ years and still use the 401A my grandmother bought as my primary machine. I even got a second when mine needed a break for a motor overhaul😮. All is well now and they both get used. I also used my iron on a cutting mat once🙄 I fixed it by taking it outside on a very warm sunny day and setting it on the back windshield of the car...perfect in a few hours😅

Thank you for demonstrating the different ways to EPP hexies. I appreciate the errors also, very relateable, I have done the same lol! Happy to be a new sub.

I use monofilament thread fit many tasks-it mark a few inches of the edge with a sharpy to make it visible for threading-no use on feel of quilt. Just be careful not to iron on high for too long (or use a pressing cloth) so as not to melt the thread.

Wash away stabilizer might give you the convenience of the paper- no ironing, but it would allow you to sew it to a fabric base without removing the paper-.

Wonderful video--instructive and entertaining! I'm in the process of making a bed quilt with the half-hexie template. I had loads of 2 1/2 inch strips, some from jelly rolls and some cut from yardage. An important issue with jelly roll strips is that between brands, they are not exactly 2 1/2 inches! Some manufacturers who pink cut the fabric measure from valley to valley while others measure from point to point. And if you have cut from yardage, getting 2 1/2 inches from side to side, they may not match the jelly rolls! (BTW I am not a fan of pinked jelly rolls for any project.) I did use the template with the points cut off, but for pinked edges it depends where the template falls--sometimes I couldn't see the cut off well enough to match up. Anyway, I'm using small print fabrics so the line in the middle is not that noticeable. You didn't mention pressing time--for my quilt I press all seams in one direction on one row, and in the opposite direction in the next row. This takes a bit of time since the quilt has 17 pieces in each row. But it makes it easier to sew the rows together. Another thought. Have you used Sew Tites--small magnets to hold your EPP pieces together? You can relax your grip if you use them. Check out their website and videos. Can"t wait to see the curtain!

Lovely thank you!😊

You should check out rob appel his videos where he is sewing hexigons by machine

Did you hear us all screaming when you ironed in your cutting mat?? (I’ve done it too, only once!)

I would use the inbuilt embroidery type stitch to join the hexes with contrasting normal thread , rather than monofilament ( note I dislike monofilament and will do ‘anything’ to avoid using it)!

Hilarious.The cat says think again Youve convinced me that hexagons are alittle hard to sew either by hand or machineGood tutorial .Keep trying .❤❤❤❤❤

I love sewing pieces by hand but I have gottenolder and my hands dont w otk like they use tomuscle cramps .I would loxe to try that idea.❤❤❤❤

If you have access to a printer, you can make your own pieces out of interfacing. That way you can skip the step of removing the paper.

For the Machine-sewn method: Fold the material in half and then cut out the pieces. It helps with prints.

I ruined my cutting mat and a wood floor by putting a wool mat directly on them and then ironing (dont ruin your dinibg room table). I was using steam. I now use a small ironing board, or a regular one, not sure why I still have the wool mat!

Good job, I love the comparisons. When using the monofilament, I wouldn't recommend ironing, it will melt. My hands have trouble holding the hexis in place, I tried the little plastic clips, but that just got hung up on threads. So, I saw some magnets, called Sew Tites, they work great, for old arthritic hands, (my brother calls my fingers, monkey fingers). I have also had to start using 3/8" seam allowances. I just started doing Traditional English Paper Piecing, I love it and it's easy to take with you anywhere, especially in front of the TV. Very Fun. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Everyone.

I bought a 2nd hand computerized Janome machine that I can program to sew an exact number of stitches then automatically stop. I can sew almost perfect dot to dot hexies using this technique. I feel like there's less thread in the "turn of the cloth" when I hand piece, though, so it's a toss up which I prefer. I really enjoyed seeing your practical demonstrations. Thank you!!