I have been meaning to try quilt-as-you-for years and now that I've tried it, I am totally hooked. I am by no means an expert, as this is my first project, but I found it quite easy to do it this way and hopefully, you will too. I prefer to hand stitch but you can use a machine. I wanted my quilting to show to give that folksy look. At Festival of Quilts, one of my customers brought some qayg hexagons she had made and they were so neat, and not a stitch showed. She had used Sea Parrot Summer birds and ladder stitch to attach the folded fabric to the bird hexagon. I wish I had taken a photo now. I was too much in awe!
I was really pleased when I came up with the idea of making the hexagons into a tree. However, my husband pointed out that the sides may turn in when it was hung, because of the weight, but I ignored him. Unfortunately, he was right. At Festival of quilts, I attached some velcro to the left and right end hexagons to stop this but not everyone has a wall that velcro sticks to! So I have come up with another method of hanging it.
Another creative customer at Festival of Quilts said 'Wouldn't it be great if you made a different tree for each season?'. What a brilliant idea! I will definitely be thinking about that. Thank you whoever you were!
To make the hexie Winter robin tree, you will need:
12 robin squares (panel or strips) from Sea Parrot https://www.seaparrot.co.uk/products/robin-panel-12-images
5 fat quarters. I used my Winter hedgerow bundle https://www.seaparrot.co.uk/products/winter-hedgerow-fat-quarter-bundle-4-designs
A qayg hexagon template https://www.seaparrot.co.uk/products/quilt-as-you-go-hexagon-templates
The template makes the process a lot easier but you could just use a 1 3/4 inch sided template to cut out the smaller hexagons and then add 3/4 inch all around to cut out the larger hexagons. Or, you could make some templates from cardboard, draw around them and cut.
A length of doweling, 1/4 inch in diameter and about 70 cm long
Some ribbon to hang.
- You need to make 52 qayg hexies altogether. Firstly, use the 1 3/4 inch sided hexagon template to cut out your 12 robins, making sure the robin is in the centre and the point is at the top.
- From each fat quarter, cut 8 small hexagons (1 3/4 inch sides) using the small template and also 10 or 11 large hexagons (3/4 inch larger than the small ones) using the large template. You need 40 small hexagons and 52 large hexagons altogether.
- Now you need to cut 52 small hexagons from wadding. I used scraps that I had leftover from other projects. I usually use a quite thin wadding that is a mix of bamboo and cotton.
- Allocate a large hexagon to each robin hexagon, making sure you divide the different designs up as evenly as possible. There should be 2-3 robins per design. Then make four piles of each of the designs of the large hexagons left. Divide the smaller hexagons as evenly as possible between them, making sure the large hexagon and small hexagon are not of the same fabric. That's just my method of sorting, you might find a better way!
- To make one qayg hexie, take one small hexagon fabric piece, one large hexagon and a wadding hexagon.
- Place the robin hexagon exactly on top of the wadding hexagon. Turn over the large hexagon and place the robin and wadding hexagons in the middle of the large hexagon and pin all three together. (My outer fabric is creased already because I did it all and forgot to take the photos)
- Fold in one side of the large hexagon to meet the edge of the inner hexagons. You could press it is you want.
- Now fold over that side the same distance again, over the top of the inner hexagon, and pin. I tried using clips instead of pins but they were too cumbersome and got in the way when it came to the quilting.
- Do the same for the next four sides, making sure that the corner folds go in the same direction.
- When you get to the last side, you may have to make some adjustment to the first foldover. Undo the first fold at the end that meets the last fold and adjust it so that the fold goes in the same direction as the rest.
- Quilting time! I used some red hand quilting thread to sew running stitch all around the edge. I started by making a knot in the end and then hiding it under the first fold.
- I sewed the running stitch about 1/4 inch from the outer edge.
- I finished off by taking the thread to the back, making two knots on top of each other as close to the fabric as possible, and then putting the needle back into the back layer of fabric, this side of the wadding, as close to the hole you came out of as possible.
- Bring the needle back out of the back, about an inch away, and pull it carefully to hide the knots behind the fabric. Cut the thread.
- That's the first qayg hexagon done. Only 51 to go!
- Once you have sewn all your hexagons, arrange them into the tree design. It doesn't have to be the same as mine!
- First, sew the edges of the hexagons in each row together by taking two hexagons and placing them face to face (right sides together) and then either using ladder stitch or whip stitch to sew them together along the correct edges. I used ladder stitch because it is less visible. Start by tying a knot in the end of the thread and then hiding the knot under a fold as before. Come out on the edge, in the corner, of one of the hexagons and make two whip stitches in the same place to fasten and hold the two hexagons together. Then continue along the sides either with ladder or whip stitch. You may want to watch my Youtube video for further help.
- When all the rows are sewn, you now need to sew the rows together using the same method i.e. placing the hexagons to be sewn together, right sides facing, and sew together at the edges.
- I attached a piece of red ribbon to the top.
- So, you may think that this is finished but remember I said that the sides turn in unless fixed to the wall? Well, I decided doweling is the answer! My tree was just over 70cm at the widest point. So I cut a piece of 1/4 inch diameter doweling to70cm.
- It now needed some pockets to hold it in place. I cut two pieces of winter hedgerow fabric 2 x 4 inches.
- First, I took one strip and pressed a 1/4 inch seam along each long side.
- Then I pressed the piece in half longways to mark the centre.
- Next, I pressed a 1/4 inch seam at the top and bottom of the strip. The short sides.
- Then I folded the top and bottom over to meet the middle mark and pressed.
- Then I folded the top over to the bottom and pressed. Repeat for the other strip.
- I used my machine to sew along each short side of the pockets. This was difficult because there were so many layers and so I wished I had hand stitched it. That's the pockets made.
- Next, I sewed the pockets onto the back of the tree. I pinned a pocket 1/4 inch in from the top of the most right hexagon and slightly in from the furthest edge. I did not want the pocket or doweling to show from the front. The pocket opening was facing inwards. Don't worry about the bottom of the pocket for now.
- I used whipstitch to sew the pocket to the hexagon along the top edge of the pocket only. I could have been neater! Make sure your stitches don't go through to the front.
- I then moved the bottom edge of the pocket to pin it 1/4 inch from the bottom. I didn't want the pockets to be too ridged because then I may not have been able to get the doweling in. There needed to be some flexibility. I sewed along the bottom edge only.
- One pocket done! Then I did the same on the left side.
- I then put the ends of the doweling into each pocket. I shock the tree up and down to check that the doweling wouldn't fall out, and it didn't.
- So now it is definitely finished! You may find a better way of stopping the sides curling in. If you do, please email me and let me know. It would be much appreciated. I wondered about using a stiffer wadding type-thing in the hexagons maybe? Anyway, this works for now but it would be nice if the tree could be hung so that both the back and front could be seen. The back is so nice!