If you know me, then you also know that I like to find "easier" ways of doing things. So, I've been thinking about how to work with the small pieces in the Hexagon Magic pattern the quickest and simplest way. You can see the relative size of the pieces based on my eyeglasses in this photo.
Here is what I've tried so far...and maybe you can use part/all of this process to create your own small pieced project. To begin, I chose one of the five block patterns from the Hexagon Magic Pattern and printed only the pattern pages for that specific block.
I printed these directly to water-soluble printer sheets.
These WS sheets have a paper backing (shown at the bottom of this photo). When removed, the "sticky" back of the WS page is reveiled. I applied the entire page to some heavy interfacing that I had some scraps of. After all, this just an experiment, so no need to go out and buy supplies.
I then cut out each individual pattern piece. Sorry that there is no photo of these, but you can imaging them all cut out from the above photo.
The great thing about the water-soluble is that I didn't have to trace the pattern. The same would apply for printing directly on to card-stock paper. The good thing about using the interfacing rather than the card-stock is that it does not have to be removed after sewing the parts together like paper would.
This is important, because it allows me to glue-baste all the pieces. No sewing a basting line or tacking stitches. A word of caution however, use solid glue...like fabric or washable glue stick...not crafters liquid glue. The reason is...the WS pieces will "dissolve" when the water of the glue contacts with them. Of course, a solution for this problem would be to peel off the WS shape from the interfacing as you work IF you use a liquid type of glue.
Lastly, I hand stitched the pieces together. My only negative in this experiment was that the interfacing was too stiff to be drape nicely. So, will have to try this again with a more medium weight to see how that works. But with a medium weight, I'm thinking that the edges will not be thick enough to get a good point...we shall see.
Also, I prefer larger pieces...my eyes are just getting too old to handle these little parts much longer. So, going to go and enlarge another block...and give that a try with the card-stock. Will let you know how THAT goes....
I love, love sewing my hex's...this is a good technique and thanks for sharing!! If I ever get back to my hex project, I may try this and will let you know how it worked out! Again, thanks for he share!
The best glue I've found, and it is absolutely wonderful and worlds better than anything else, liquid or solid, is the Bohin temporary glue pen, in pinkish purple glue. There's one in blue, but it's different. I got mine through Amazon, and there are refills. When you buy a bulk 5 refills, it makes the whole thing less expensive. It's worth the expense!
I found your experiment interesting, and I look forward to seeing how this compares to the paper piecing. I like the design a lot, btw.
I love, love sewing my hex's...this is a good technique and thanks for sharing!! If I ever get back to my hex project, I may try this and will let you know how it worked out! Again, thanks for he share!
ReplyDeleteThe best glue I've found, and it is absolutely wonderful and worlds better than anything else, liquid or solid, is the Bohin temporary glue pen, in pinkish purple glue. There's one in blue, but it's different. I got mine through Amazon, and there are refills. When you buy a bulk 5 refills, it makes the whole thing less expensive. It's worth the expense!
ReplyDeleteI found your experiment interesting, and I look forward to seeing how this compares to the paper piecing. I like the design a lot, btw.