Progress on rug

So far the rug is about 32 inches across when done should be about 60 inches. This rug when completed is a gift for my children's piano teacher. It is hard to explain how nice of a person she is. Not only is she their teacher she is my friend and a great lady. This is a thank you for everything she has done for my family over the years. Mrs. Bear-Hunter is a great lady to say the least that isn't her real name just what my kids call her.

The item to the right is my braiding stand. It has gotten kind of wobbly from all the use I have given it. Any craft table will work to attach your braid clamp to. In time I hope to make a better one. Sort of an over grown crate with room to put my feet inside of it to balance it as I braid and with shelves to put my supplies on. The shelves would be inside the box right above my knees this would be much better than what I have. I just thought you all might want to see this any way as it is a tool I use religiously when braiding. Also notice you can use rubber bands instead of real aids or safety pins any thing goes.

If you noticed in the photos I have done a color change, actually three of them, white to cream, red to plaid red and medium khaki to a little darker khaki. It is hard to see where I changed the colors If you do it the way I explained it will be hard for others to see it too. In the photo below the color change is happening just above the needle and another to the left and up a little if you want to find it click on photo for a blow up. this is the back of the rug they are harder to find on the front. But i stitch from the back when lacing. So I never see the front of the rug till I am all done and flip it over. The rug is reversible I just like one side more than the other.

The colors are those in the piano teachers house. She knows she is getting this gift and I wanted it to work with in her home so she picked the colors.

Part 6: How to change colors

Once you have a length of braid laced together and want to change colors. Look to the safety pin you placed in the beginning or your rug. Take a straight line from the end of it to the edge of the rug. In the above photo I have laid my needle to show this imaginary line.

In my case at this point in the rug I wanted to change two strands. As I like to let the fabric sometime dictate when I change colors. In this case two colors are not able to make another complete round. Place a T pin in the piece of the braid you want to cut you can change 1, 2, or all 3 strands at the same time.I have also made rugs where I change all three colors every round. That is a lot of work but the results are amazing.

Place the T on the out side of the braid and place it close to the edge of the braid over lapping it. The pin placement is important. Because when you cut this spot and sew your seam should lay under the strand next to it and the join can not bee see from either side of the rug. The colors change where you can not see them.

Now cut your fabric to the right of the pins.

Unbraid and unlace a few inches back at this point to make it easier to add on your new fabric. I am changing white for tan and red for a brick red plaid.

The way you add fabric is the same way you started the rug with the 45 degree angle to stitch two pieces together. I stitch this buy hand when adding a new color when just joining the same color I do that by machine. The reason for the different ways is when I am just adding the same color I can do that at any time and have a long enough length to take to the machine. When changing colors I am about 5 inches from where the rug is braided and laced together making it hard to manipulate at the machine. I have done it both ways. If I have my machine sitting on the floor then it is sometimes easier to do this step on a machine. When making a jean rug if you plan to change color every round this is a good suggestion of setting your machine on the floor next to where you want to change colors as stitch through jean is hard on the hands woo is easy. I did mine scrappy on the jean so it didn't matter.

In these two photos I have traced (not well mind you) the two new pieces of fabric that have been changed changed. This is so you can see because of where we cut it the old colors disappear at an angle into the center making them blend better when laced together making the color change harder to see in the rug.

On a side note another tool I use is a clothes pin. When I want to set my work down and not have the braid undue itself just place a clothes pin over the ends saves redoing a few braids each time you stop,

Part 1: Prep work and cutting fabric
Part 2: Will be about sewing the strips together and forming reels
Part 3: About starting a t-started rug
Part 4: How to start a round rug, apple peel style
Part 5: Sewing and increases / tools
Part 6: How to change colors
Part 7: Ending in a taper
Part 8: Butting last one or two rows of the rug for a smooth finish

Part 5: Sewing and increases / tools

supplies and tools

• glove to protect hand you pull thread with I am right handed the glove is worn on my left but you can wear one on both hands if you want. I have leather thimbles over the fingers of my glove to save my fingers more. All the damage you see to this glove is from braiding same goes for the thimbles.
• bodkins or needles My favorite is the top one it is from my Great Aunt she used it to make rugs over 60 years ago. Next is the one below it found thrifting. The bottom ones are the type you find at most stores in a package like to the right in the photo. I don't like them to short in my opinion. They are hard to manipulate.
• 6 ply linen cord. You can also get a nice thick strong cord from any cobbler. They have two types waxed and unwaxed. Unwaxed is cheaper waxed is twice as much. I repaired a few of my Great Aunts rugs right before she died and realized she had used waxed cord on some and unwaxed on others. The waxed cords where still pliable and subtle where the other cords had become dry and brittle. I don't have waxed cord to use but I think for the long run it is better. But it has a draw back it is hard to get a knot to seat in it very well. Thus it makes sewing (lacing) harder to do. But if I had both types of cord I would use the waxed over the other just for the durability of it.
• swinging gate clamp. This is used when braiding but I realized I didn't show it in the last post with an explanation so I am tossing it in now. This is used to hold my braid when braiding. I can push the braid away from me and the gate swings open to let it move through the gate. If I pull towards me the gate holds firm and doesn't let the braid move very useful when braiding highly recommended. Clamps to most tables.
• and of course you need a length of braid to stitch together

First you will need to cut a length of cord. Tie a knot at the tail and right after the needle or bodkin to make it easier to stitch.
OK on to explaining how to lace the braids together. Just so we all know this is hard to explain in writing for me and easy to demo in real life. So if you have questions please ask as I may have missed a photo but I don't think so.

• Insert needle into the top of the t start make sure to go through some of the fabric inside the braid to secure the knot cut excess threads hanging out
• pass your needle inside the braid till you pop the needle out on the inside of the curve 3 twists down on the inside curve of the braid.
• go back up to the first l over m and stitch under the braid you are not catching any fibers any more just going in between the strands of the braid.
• now skip the strand next to the spot where the needle popped out of the braid the first time pass needle through the space between the strands. Picture of needle point at the red strand shows that I am skipping that strand.
• back to the top of the t start pass needle under the first r over m
• back to other attaching new braid skipping next strand on braid stitch under the next. In other words ever other stand is being stitched. In my case I am skipping the reds. These skips are known as increases and is adding bulk to the rug edge to make it easier to make the curves. You only do increases on the braid that is being attached to the rug. You NEVER skip any braid strand on the part of the rug that has already been attached.
• back to t star and stitch through the second r over m
• continue in this pattern until you get to where both sides of the braid you are adding to the rug have three colors in their twists. In other wards till you get past the apple peals.
• Place a safety pin at the t start pointing away from the t this will point to where you will make all your color changes latter in the rug.
• You will continue lacing the braid to the rug. But now you only make increases where needed this takes some practice. You can place t pins in the rug to make sure you are staggering your increases. If you don't stagger them your rug will not be round but will have a free form shape especially if you always do them in the same spot. You increase when you feel you have to stretch the braid to make the next lacing. If you don't have to stretch it then don't increase. If your rug is cupping you have not done enough increase tear out lacing and do that part again. If your rug has a wavy effect you have to many increases tear out that part and stitch again with less increases. If your fabrics are not the same weight both of these two things can happen too. It just takes practice to know which is happening. If you switch to a fatter or heaver weight wool do not increase that round. If you switch to a lighter or thinner weight wool you will have many more increases that round. Best to stay to one weight.
• Wool rugs are very cushy and thick some people are surprised by this when they make the rug. Trust me your shoulders will know you are working with something heavy.
• when stitching make sure to pull your linen cord hard to pull lacing stitches together. With wool, cotton toweling, and plain quilters cotton your stitching should not show, with jeans that is a differnt story. As the jeans don't give much to hid the stitches. I like my stitches to be hidden have only made one jean rug for this reason, I don't like to walk on what is holding the rug together. Because if the stitches show that means they are being walked on as well as the vacuum is beating on them wearing them out fast. Since the lacing cord is not as thick as the rug is it wears out soon and you will have to make repairs. This is one of the main reasons I will not buy store rugs as they have little tiny sewing machine thread holding the braids together on the outside of the rug not hidden in side like the ones I make. So it doesn't take much wear to wear out those threads and then your rug falls apart. My Great Aunts (the ones still living) are still using the rugs that they and my great grandmother made over 60 years ago and they still have 60 more years or more of wear left in them. I only repaired 6 holes in over 13 rugs in their house (to hard of work for their 90 plus year bodies) and those holes were made by the kitchen tables legs wearing out the fabric from sitting in the same spot for so long. In other words the rugs where like steel if made well and flipped and rotated often like at spring cleaning time.
• When your thread starts to get short also shown in the picture below you will need to add more cording. You can use a square knot or a weavers knot. I use a square knot but both would work great. The weavers knot would be a better choice for waxed thread. When adding thread leave the tails long. So when you stitch the tails can be woven under many braid strands to hold the knot secure and to keep it from untieing and unlacing.
  

Part 1: Prep work and cutting fabric
Part 2: Will be about sewing the strips together and forming reels
Part 3: About starting a t-started rug
Part 4: How to start a round rug, apple peel style
Part 5: Sewing and increases / tools
Part 6: How to change colors
Part 7: Ending in a taper
Part 8: Butting last one or two rows of the rug for a smooth finish

Part 2: Braided Rug tutorial

Sewing Strips Together

So, I cleaned the sewing room so I could instantly make a mess with this project. Above photo: stacks of wool for making the rug.

The strips are sewn together at a 45-degree angle. This is used to change colors and to add more of the same color to the current strip being used. This is also used in the beginning when you have three colors starting at the same time.

1. Lay ends of wool strips that you have cut at right angles to each other.
   
2. Sew from corner to corner, a 45 degree-angle, right sides together.
   
3. Trim off excess wool; leave 1/4 to 1/2 inch-wide seam allowance.
   

The reason the seam is sewn at a 45 degree angle is to reduce bulk in the braid because it spreads it out over about an inch instead of putting all the bulk in one spot.

When braiding, you need one of your strands to be short; there are a few ways of doing this.

• One is to leave two long strands and constantly add to the third strand.
• Another is leave all three strands short and add to all three as needed.
• I don't like to do either of these methods because it breaks the rhythm of braiding. So, I leave two strands real long and the third strand is left sort of long, but in the form of a reel, which makes its over-all braiding length short.

You can do any of the above that works best for you. Two are pretty much self explanatory, the last I will explain a little better.

I like using a braid aid reel; the only thing was, it didn't hold enough in my opinion - only 5 yards.

So, I bent an old wire clothes hanger and attached it to the bottom of the reel tool to make it longer and hold more. At the bottom of the bends I placed a piece of PVC pipe to help the wool roll around the wire better for ease in braiding.

Wool wound in a circle/reel with a hole big enough in the center to accommodate the pvc pipe.

Extension inside wool.

Remove pin from Reel aid and attach to extension.

Wool strips feed through the tool.

I don't use the reel to fold the fabric; I just use it to hold more fabric. You can use braid aids on all your strips to help you fold, especially if you have arthritis or something of that sort. Personally, it is easier to braid without the gizmos and creates less fiber dust, too. That is why I now prefer to use just the one, the reel, to speed up the braid time by not having to stop so much to sew more strips on. But I leave the other strips without the tool because it is faster for me.

If you don't have, or don't want to buy, a reel-aid tool, you can do the same thing with a safety pin and just undo a loop every time you need more of the strip to braid. I do this, too. I am trying to give you as many options as possible on how to do this so it is the cheapest for you in the long run in case you do not want to invest in a lot of tools.

Part 1: Prep work and cutting fabric
Part 2: Will be about sewing the strips together and forming reels
Part 3: About starting a t-started rug
Part 4: How to start a round rug, apple peel style
Part 5: Sewing and increases / tools
Part 6: How to change colors
Part 7: Ending in a taper
Part 8: Butting last one or two rows of the rug for a smooth finish

12 step program

Small knitting machines

I was asked what types of knitting machines I have. So, here they are going from small to large in size.

1. The Mattel knitting machine. Where to find: anywhere from thrift stores, garage sales, to your attic to on eBay. There might be a new version of this, too, I don't know. I use it to make boa scarves; actually my oldest daughter does the most, but I use it, too. It makes tube panels only. I also use this to make knitted yoyos for fuzzy brooches.
2. Next size is the Addi-express; I bought the last one from Heindselman's in Provo, Utah. I don't know where else they are sold; probably on the Internet somewhere. This makes flat or tube panels; it is a sock-size machine. It also makes wide boa scarves.
   
3. The largest size can be found at hobby lobby. This machine is called Innovations, and it makes hats in tube form, or you can make flat panels as well.

I have never had much luck with the flat panel part of the machines. I hope to practice that more and see if I can make a knitted skirt out of a funky novelty yarn. Right now I can't get the last set of stitches on either end to stay consistent. So I cannot recommend that part of the machines because I do not know how well it works. Also the Innovations machine is the pickiest out of the three machines. When the engineers designed it they made the needles (hooks) in multiple pieces which makes the yarn get hung up on it easily. The other two machines don't have that problem because they are made from a single-cast needle.

R is for...

Rock-n groups on flicker that I am a member of but not admin.

30 mm Clover Yoyo Maker " The Green One'

I was given two clover yoyo makers as gifts from my MIL as a birthday present. I didn't really know what size they would work up as. Today I got a chance to sit down and play with it, finally. I wasn't sure if it was going to be to gimmicky or real cool. I think it is cool; it allows you to make a quarter size yoyo super easy. This isn't easy to do in the hand because the fabric flips and fights you. In this tool, it lays real nice and still. I also tried it with other fabrics. If you wanted to work in silk or satins or other slick hard-to-hold fabrics, it is great. Also I tried corduroy; it did work, but was a little more difficult to get the gizmo to lock as it should. But once in the tool, it worked great, too. Just formed a little larger yoyo than cotton or silk did because the center hole couldn't get as tight due to the bulk inherent in the fabric.

Clover even makes a size smaller than this in circle form and two bigger. I am so excited to get the smaller one I am hoping it makes dime or nickel size yo-yos. How cool would that be. My friend Seiko makes them this small by hand without a gizmo; I'm not sure how she does that, but I think I will, too, once I get the smaller size. My friend Buttercup in Japan said she was sending me some, all the styles and sizes clover makes. I am so much more excited now that I got to play with one, anticipation for these to come is going to drive me a little crazy. I was excited before my playtime; now I am more so, to say the least. Those she will be sending are flower and heart shapes and more circles. Yes, many more things to make with yoyos.

Below is Seiko's Quilt; if you look closely, you can see hers are smaller than a quarter. The ones made with the second smallest clover tool are just a little bigger than a quarter. This was a gift from Seiko about nine years ago.

WIP / New Tools

Sunday I was making some banana bread (I was using nine bananas), got half way into the recipe mixing and realized the box in the refrigerator didn't have any eggs in it. Don't ask me why it was still in the fridge -- I haven't a clue.

So what to do because I don't go shopping on Sunday. Quick call to the sister-in-law; life saver, that one. She had enough for me and enough for her to make something that took either six or nine eggs, too. So I quickly went over because the backing soda and baking powder were already having their reaction and I had to hurry; not hard because she only lives about 3 blocks away. Long story short -- she saved my bread.

The surprise was when I got to her house she had a present for me. Real cool; not my birthday or anything! She said she had been at Hancock Fabric (a fabric store) and saw these items on clearance and thought of me because I like to make yo yos. She said they were real cheep; I hope so because things like this usually cost a lot.

I am so excited about the new toy. I just haven't had time to play with new toys as of late. I am in a swap that is just getting under way over at MJF, so I will be cutting lots of yo yos in the very near future. That actually isn't the reason this is exciting to me. When I get a chance, I get to open the package and look inside because it has a note on the outside which reads that it has an apple core pattern inside. This is a quilt I have wanted to do for a long time. I am hoping this will help me with the cutting and getting it done sooner than later. If any of you readers have this toy, tell me what your opinion of it is and any tips and tricks you might have because I have never seen this before. Monday I did return to her house and gave her one of the loaves of banana bread as a thank you for the nine eggs.

My current project is a baby afghan that I am making for a friend of ours who had a baby born, not even at mid term. Amazing, the baby was the length of an ink pen and it's weight was less than a pound. The baby is home now, and I am late on the gift. The baby is healthy; it's amazing the things that doctors can do with modern medicine and a lot of prayers. The afghan is made of 100% cotton. Where you see the balls sitting next to the afghan is where the next block that color is going to be. I am hoping to get this done by the end of the weekend.

Trying to get caught up on a few things

Penny over at Penny Sanford Porcelains sent me the loveliest brooch/charm I have seen made out of Porcelain. She makes these herself. She gave this to me as an award titled "The Happy Penny Award". I think it is very sweet. I love that she is doing hand work because I do tons of that. Penny does sell these; if you are interested, follow links to her site.When we went to my in-laws for a late Easter egg hunt, my mother-in-law gave me a birthday present. I think it is so cool; I just wish I had a little bit of time to sit down and play with it. Life is so busy at the current time. I really love this item; I discovered the other day that in Japan they sell a larger and smaller version of this and also heart and flower ones, too. I just can't figure out how to order them yet.I was in a fat-quarter swap at MJF forum with nine other women. The fat quarter I sent in is the third from left; it is a vintage fabric my Vavo purchased. It's always fun to see the variety you get in a swap -- thanks, ladies!Suzy homemaker who is also at MJF sent me this lovely Easter card with a fat quarter of fabric. I am going to have so much fun with fabric in the near future. I love this fabric; it is so soft and delicate looking. Would be lovely as a Mother's Day item. Hmm... I might think on that one a little.I have a few more items to show and say thank you for; I just didn't have time to photograph them all, so you will probably see them later. A box and envelope of fabric from levisgrammy at MJF. Also a box from This Vintage Chica with real cute items in it.

Updated 12:33 p.m.

This is the box and envelope of fabric from levisgrammy at MJF.This stuff below are the items from "This Vintage Chica" and an apron from her, too. I still need to send her fabric and yarn for the exchange; sorry I'm so long in doing this. I just love roosters; aren't those just the cutest plates. The white sheer item is a curtain that I may make into an apron later after I get a chance to try and remove the stain. I knew about the stain before she sent it. I think it will still work out lovely.This is one of those times when I wish I had a mannequin or dress form or something to drape clothes on; this is real cute and the lighting didn't do it justice nor did laying it on the floor. It is a vintage apron, but the colors are still popular today. I would love to make a quilt someday in this color scheme. This is about three shades of pink and three shades of chocolate; it's hard to see in this photo -- bad lighting. But super super cute!!

How to make straw flowers

I decided to make a tutorial for those of you that might have this item from a thrift store but don't have the instructions.

Steps

1. Lay straw across loom from bottom to top. You can also use yarn or any other fabric type material that will bend nicely around spokes.
2. Bring straw back to bottom of loom. Moving straw from left to right behind spoke. Then wrap the next spoke on the bottom left moving straw from right to left behind spoke.
3. Moving to next spoke at the top right wrap straw around it and go back down to bottom. This time you wrap the spoke to the left of the last one you did on the bottom.
4. Repeat last step all the way around
5. You will finish wrapping your straw to the left and on the opposite side of the loom from the first wrap. The two tails should be next to each other. If you are using yarn or something like that you can go around the spokes 1 or two more times to have a petal with 24 or 36 petals instead of 12 like one row has. If you do this make sure to fluff flower at the end and separate the petals they tend to get stuck together.
6. Have needle threaded with pearl cotton ahead of time and make sure your needle is longer than your loom is wide.
7. Pass needle under all the straw.
8. Tie pearl cotton in knot. You are looking at the back of your work and are working from the back knots won't show on front when completed.
9. Pass needle from right to left under 3 petals of flower.
10. Bring needle up and go back under last two petals and pick up one new one to the left of the last petal from the previous round. You will be rotating the flower in a clockwise direction with each pass of the needle.
11. Continue this till you have 3 completed rounds of pearl cotton forming your center of your flowers and holding everything together .
12. Finish thread by weaving it in and out of the pearl cotton do this about 5 times in different spots on the back. I like to do mine in the space between each set of petals and work my way around to each space.
13. Cut straw and pearl cotton. You can make it more secure by using fray check or something like that.
14. If using fray check let it dry. You can also do this step off the loom.
15. Remove from loom and sew onto desired item. See apron I made using these here. You can also see this same technique using double sided satin ribbon here.
    

If you don't have this tool and you want to buy some flowers they are for sale at my store already made.


whipup

Please join flickr group if you have made any of these types of flowers

Crazy with flowers

My flowers decided to bloom after all, just a few days late, but that is all fine with me. I went out to take pictures, and there was a little bee in one on the flowers. So I have little bee bum in half my pictures. Oh, well!! At least the flowers are happy about it. I guess that is all that really matters on that one.I got inspired by the flowers to make some flowers of my own. Look at the mosaic picture; the stuff in the top left photo is called Hi-Straw and Swistraw. My supply is from the 40's through mid 1960's. They are made out of Viscose Rayon so they can be washed just like clothes. I just love thrift stores!I got this idea around 4 am this morning. "Why" you ask, "was I up at that time.?" Well, my kids woke me because of their fevers. After I took care of them, I couldn't go back to sleep. Yep!! I started making flowers on my looms. The looms are on the top row, middle picture. They are from the same time period as the straw and were actually meant to be used with it. In addition, you can use ribbon and yarn with the looms, too. I think they would work well with wire work like beadders use; pretty much any thing you can wrap around them without breaking the pegs.

The next picture shows the smallest loom with a flower almost completed on it after having been woven on the loom and embroidered with pearl cotton to form the center. This is considered a type of weaving, just not very complicated weaving.

That same blue flower is show again in the first picture on the second row. Then I decided this was too boring; I needed more variety and not just in color, so I started making a variety of sizes.

In the last picture of the mosaic I have a nice little stack of flowers ready to be added to the apron. OK, so I go over board; I am used to that. The apron I used I have had for about 10 years; I purchased it at a craft store called Mac's. I loved that store; too bad they went out of business about 5 years ago. I think the apron came out rather cute -- sort of spring, St.Patrick's Day, Easter and Mother's day all in one.

Looking at these photos gave me another idea. "Oh, NO!!!" you say. Take it easy; it's a good idea I promise, and you can do it if you can find the supplies at a thrift store. Actually, I think they are selling looms like this again. But if you can't find them there is always eBay; that is where I bought the brass one about 7 years ago. Do your search under flower loom, bloom loom, crazy daisy, knit wit, studio twelve looms -- any of these will work to find something that can make these flowers. Either way, the supplies are not hard to find.

Now for the idea: Wouldn't these just be sweet on a sheer little girl's bedroom window? Hey, I have three little girls; too. To bad their windows already have blinds and curtains. But maybe I can still change that. We will see; maybe I'll get some sleep instead.

Also the flowers made on the brass loom are the same size as yo-yos made from a standard size CD; oh yes, the wheels are spinning with ideas there, too.

Update

I noticed that Craftzine linked to this today ( Friday Mar. 16, 2007). They referred to it as a "How to" so I decided real quick I would make a true " How to" if you have this tool and don't know how to use it or if you have seen one and wondered how it worked follow the link below.
Tutorial here.
You can also see these same daisies made with double sided satin here.

Please join flickr group if you have made any of these types of flowers

I found the buttons!!!

If you remember, back in November I accidentally dumped all my Mother of Pearl button boxes. Well, I actually did get around to fixing them up real nice and neat with the help of my friend, Dale. When I went to his lace in, he gave me two real nice big boxes I could keep them in.

So, after a little bit of brain storming, I figured the easiest way to keep buttons is the way they come from the store originally, on little cards. Heather had the idea of gluing them down. I don't like the idea for mother of pearl, especially dyed ones, but it's great idea for plastic and Bakelite buttons. The next best thing is sewing, yikes! So I made my own little cards with a real big craft punch. It felt like I sat for days and days on end trying to sort and organize them.

I think the end result came out pretty well; as you can see, in one of the boxes some of the buttons are on strings -- still as they are sorted. I just haven't finished stitching all the buttons to cards yet. The card are set up in two ways: one way is all of one kind of button; the other way is a card with no two buttons the same on it. These are my one-of-kinds that would get lost the way I stored them before.

Also, since then I actually have received more buttons as gifts for Christmas, I have to sit down some day soon and add them to this box. I may need a third box by the time I am done. Those, the Christmas ones, aren't even pictured here. As you can see, not all of the items are buttons, but most are mother of pearl or shell and a few are metal vintage/antique buttons, too. What I think is real neat are the antique buckles.

Tutorial on English Paper Piecing : Grandmother's Flower Garden

Prep work: cut paper templates and fabric

I actually like to buy my templates, mine are die cut, this gives more accuracy to my work and speeds up the process; you can do it either way, though, buy or make. Finished size paper templates are 1/4 inch shorter on each side than the unfinished size template for the piece of fabric.

My papers are 3/4 inch; this is my finished size for the hex block. My fabric pieces are 1 inch to a side. Just a side note, when I buy my pieces I buy two sizes; one for the finished size in a bulk big package and a small package to use as my templates for cutting my fabric.

Ways of cutting fabric

If I am using scraps, I use a pair of scissors to cut my fabric hexagons. If I am purposely using yardage, uncut fabric, I will use a rotary cutter. With this size hexagon I cut my strips to 1 1/2 inches wide. Then I place my template on the strips and cut the six sides. After you have cut one, each time you add the template you will only be cutting five sides because one is already cut.

To get the measurement for whatever size hexagon you are using, you will measure from point to point on the unfinished template piece of fabric. On mine that was 1 1/2 inches; yours will vary if you are using a different size hex than I am.

Basting

1. Pin paper to wrong side of fabric. I skip this step, but when you are starting out it is a good rule of thumb to do this 'till you get use to it.Next you fold over the right side of the fabric followed by the top side. If left handed, do the opposite (do the left followed by the top).
2. At this point you can have a knot on your thread, if you so desire. I placed one on mine for the picture, but usually I do not use one; I leave a little tail hanging out. This is a little harder technique when starting, so for beginners I recommend a small knot. Place needle in fabric going right to left and slightly up. Pull needle through and repeat this step by making another stitch in the same spot, aka a back stitch. This will hold the corners in place.
3. Rotate hex in left hand so the point that you just finished is pointing right. If left handed, rotate left and point last done will be pointing left. Fold down top like you did before. Insert needle from right to left, repeat. Repeat this last section of rotation and insert needle twice then repeat all the way around. If left handed, insert needle from left to right, of course. Finish off on sixth corner; you don't have to do the first one again. Cut thread; you don't need a knot if you leave a tail when you cut the thread. Exception to the rule: if your finished hex size is over 1 1/2 inches, it's good to do the first corner one more time. A lot of tutorials on this technique tell you to stitch through the paper; I don't like to do that as you have to cut all those threads when done. I only stitch through the paper if my finished hex size is bigger than 2 inches (I don't do that size often). If I am doing that size, then I do one stitch in the middle of each side. This is a really tiny stitch. This way when I want to remove the papers all I have to do is make a small snip with scissors (6 times per block) and pull the papers out. This leaves in the corner stitches and the other stitches are pulled to the back. These middle stitches are known as a stabilizing stitch, and I only do them one to a side. More than one stabilizing stitch to a side and you have to pull out threads. It also takes too much time, and I believe it to be a waste of time. Make sure if you are doing your hexagons like mine (you leave your basting stitches in), that you use a basting thread that will not show through your work when finished.
4. On the last hexagon for a flower or whatever shape you are doing, I finish my hex a little differently. At the end of basting I do the first corner again, but I bring my needle out in the point of the hex. This sets me up for the next step which is assembling the blocks. If you noticed, this block doesn't have a pin in it. Like I said, that is a step I don't do any more, but when I was learning how I did. That is a personal choice.

Assembly

1. Place two hexagons right sides together. If right handed your starting thread should be on the left; if left handed, on the right. Insert needle grabbing only two or three thread thicknesses on each fabric of each hex. DO NOT GO THROUGH THE PAPER. This is a common mistake beginners make. This makes it hard to remove the papers later. It also makes the papers not able to be used again, and wears out your fingers, too . If you do not stitch into the paper you will have an easy time pulling the papers out at the end, and you will be able to reuse the papers dozens of times, if not more. Make your stitches small and even.There should not be any gaps or openings when unfolded. Side Notes: I use Gutterman quilting thread 100% cotton and a #9 quilters betweens needle to sew mine together. Use what you like and are comfortable with. Also I like to take one extra stitch at the corners to make them a little stronger because this is where all the pressure is when used and might break easier without this extra stitch.
2. Your thread should be at a corner from the last side you stitched. Repeat the steps in step one of assembly.
3. Now a few things that come up while you are assembling your blocks together: First there is back tracking. This means your thread is in one spot but you really need it in another that isn't too far away. Instead of cutting your thread and tying a lot of knots, you can back track. It is faster and fewer knots on the back of your work. In this picture my thread is on the lower right of a seam and I need it in the upper left of the same seam. So to get there, I travel over the stitches I have already done. My stitches only go through the fabric on the back of the work, never through the paper and never all the way to the front of the work. They are never more than 1/4 of an inch from each other. They do go in the opposite direction of the other stitches (see the stitches' different slants). Now I am where I want to be at the start of the next spot to stitch, also known as a "Y" seam because it resembles the letter "Y".
4. Next you have what is known as a "Y" seam. You can see the spot I have yet to stitch in the photo.