My first work with hexagons - hand sewn

i've been doing a lot of online search for tutorials on patchwork and quilting. That's when i stumbled upon hexagons, and, it fascinated me!

when i went to my parents' place for my annual month long holiday  in May 2012, i decided to try my hand at it. i have always worked on some project while at mum's on a break. These have always involved hand sewing. The reason being, it gives me mobility, which means i can be with mamma, spend time talking to her and at the same time keep myself engaged in the process of creation. What better opportunity to try my hand at hexagons!

i first rummaged through mum's pieces of scrap. She has always tailored her clothes and mine till as long as i lived with them. I found lots and lots of scraps. Thus started my project. 

The first step was going back to basics of geometry. With a pair of compasses, i made a hexagon template on thick card paper. This was used to draw out around 25 odd hexagons on plain A4 paper, the regular one we use for printing purposes. Then came the step of cutting these hexagons out. i then proceeded to cut out squares from the fabrics that i had zeroed in on. i do not posses a cutting mat, rotary cutter or any other tools for that matter. So it was the good old way of using the scale and pencil, drawing lines and then cutting over them.

These are a list of some of the you tube tutorials i referred to while learning to work with hexagons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JseWMYdMtDs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcvpA3lqtkM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVkV8JBNaIQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ide7Qqqra8E

While thread basting the cloth around the hexagon template, i did not stitch through the paper. This meant that there was no need of snipping the threads to pull out the paper. I managed to reuse the templates around three times, thereafter i just had to cut out more. 

My parents have an oval shaped table top. Thought i'd make it for that. i started to work on it the day after i arrived there which was the 19th of May and did all i could until the day i left which was the 17th of June. I wanted to stitch another strip of piping around the sides and also line it, but couldn't do so. Mamma has promised to complete it before i go back to visit them this year. 

This is the stage at which i stopped work on it.

The best thing about this apart from the fact that i can say, i've learnt to work with hexagons is that, it is completely made of scraps i found lying in the house. The fabric for the petals and the yellow around the flowers are remains of mamma's 'kurta' materials! The green and the the dark ochre are from her blouse pieces!!!

i loved working with hexagons! i now want to make a bed spread with them.