One Common Thread Hexagon Projects
13th Nov 2020
Two is better than one! Gift giving this season can double the love when the first gift is the purchase of a kit from One Common Thread.org. Your choice to buy these beautiful hand sewn hexagons gives the gift of food to families living in Hurricane Eta’s ravaged Honduras in Central America. Here is a news story about the women who now have dignified work creating hexagons for quilts. Using these hexagons in the gifts you make for friends and family can help raise awareness and they get a beautiful handmade gift!
Materials needed
Assorted fat quarters from Cotton Cuts
Coordinating thread
Batting, fusible fleece or Insul Bright
Fabric glue
I ordered the Christmas hexagon kit online and it was at my door two days later beautifully packaged with a handwritten thank you from Courtney! They even give you a clear zipper pouch to keep the hexagons together as you work on the project.
This project will focus on machine sewing the hexagons on the fabric using simple designs suitable for a beginner. Start by sorting the hexagons by color and arranging designs on holiday themed fabrics.
Next it is time to prepare the hexagons for appliqué. I pressed and lightly starched them, trimming the seams to ¼” approximately. Using a small crochet hook I was easily able to reach under and grab the paper pattern from the inside.
Using a fabric glue stick I placed the hexagons centered on my 8” squares. To make the finishing easier, cut the backing 10” to fold over for self binding. Sew Very Easy has a great tutorial for this technique. You can choose to use batting, fusible fleece or Insul Bright cut to 8” square layering between the top and bottom making a quilt sandwich. To keep the layers centered place a few safety pins. I used this basic design for the potholders and placemat. At this point there are a variety of ways to sew the hexagons onto the fabric. A walking foot can be helpful to use if you have one for your sewing machine. I did simple straight line quilting on several and using coordinating thread stitching around the hexagons on the others. The plaid fabric made it very easy just to follow the lines in the fabric for quilting. Finish using the self binding technique.
Using a similar idea you can make a holiday pincushion. For this you cut the circle at least ⅜” wider than the design and back it with fusible fleece. Cut another circle for the back. For this design I sewed straight lines ¼” apart on the top piece to secure the hexagons in place. With right sides together sew a ¼” seam around the circle leaving a 2” opening. Turn the right sides out and press. Fill with sand or batting scraps and hand stitch the opening closed.
These are just a few ideas of projects you can make with the hexagons from One Common Thread. Subscribers of the Cotton Cuts Classic Box will receive the hexagon kit to make two face masks as featured in this recent blog Let’s come together and support these women by making a donation, by purchasing a completed quilt or a kit to make your own beautiful hexagon gifts this holiday season.
