Folded Hexagon
These easy little hexagons are fast and fun to make!
Just a few simple tools and you’ll be making them in no time!
Using this method, you can make them any size you want.
Supplies:
One 3 1/2″ circle pattern such as a quart-size canning jar lid, or any lid that is about that size.
One scrap of fabric approx. 3 3/4″ to 4″ in diameter for the center of the flower.
One Fat-Eighth of a coordinating fabric for the petals. (You can get approx. twelve 3 1/2″ circles from one fat eighth.)
Thread to match each fabric
Marking tool (A mechanical pencil with graphite lead or chalk lead (for dark colors) is recommended.)
Hand-sewing supplies (needle, thimble, scissors)
A firm surface for finger-pressing
Make the Hexagon: (Note: I am right-handed, so my instructions are given from that perspective.)
Place your 3 1/2″ circle pattern onto the center fabric scrap. Trace around the circle and cut it out.
Place the circle pattern on the petal fabric and trace around it six times. Cut them out.
Thread your needle with a single thread. Make a tiny knot at the long end.
- Take your center fabric circle, and find the most bias edge. Fold the circle in half, right-sides together, so that the bias edge is at the top. Press the crease with your fingernail. Be careful to not stretch the crease as it, too, is on the bias.
2. Fold it in half again, and finger-press the crease.
3. Pick up the folded circle with the folded center at the top. Insert your needle at the very center through just a couple of threads. Pull the thread until the knot catches in the center.
4. Unfold the circle. From the wrong side, insert the needle just a few threads in from the edge. ( I follow one of the fold lines out to the edge and insert my needle there.)
Pull the thread all the way through. Then pull down on the thread so that the edge curls down to the center.
Use your thread and the fold line as a guide to center the edge.
Finger-press the fold.
5. Rotate your circle counter-clock-wise. Insert your needle a few threads away from the folded tip.
Pull the thread down toward the center, carefully rolling the folded tip to the center. Use your fingertip or thumb, if needed, as a guide to help the fabric roll over and down.
Gently, pull your thread taut. Make sure that your threaded tip is at the center.
Press the fold with your thumb or fingernail.
7. Again, rotate the circle counter-clock-wise, and insert your needle a couple of threads away from the folded tip.
Gently, pull your thread through and taut, rolling the folded tip to the center. Press the fold with your fingernail.
Repeat Step 7 two more times.
Carefully insert your needle a few threads away from the tip, and through all three layers,
Again, carefully pull the thread through and taut to the center. Finger-press the fold.
Take a couple of stitches across the end to tack the last tip in place. Do not stitch through to the front side of the hexagon.
Repeat this process with each circle of the petal fabric until you have a total of 7 hexagons. Six “petals” and one center.
It is important to note that all of your hexagons will NOT be identical. There will be slight variations in the sides of each one. However, these differences will be eased into the seams as you stitch them together.
To assemble a Grandmother’s Flower Garden flower from the hexagons, I’m using a darker thread just so you can see it better. Normally, I would use a thread that matches the blue fabric I’ve used here.
As you did before, thread your needle with a single thread and make a tiny knot at the long end.
8. From the back side of your center hexagon, insert the needle under one of the folds and bring the tip of the needle out at a folded corner.
9. Place the center hexagon and a petal hexagon right-sides together with the thread extending from the top right side of the center one. If one edge is slightly longer than the other, follow the easing instructions in Step 13 to fix that issue.
Whip-stitch the top edges together. Just barely catch both edges with the needle. If your stitches are too deep, they will show when you open up them.
Make a knot at the end of the seam and hide the thread end under a side fold of the darker fabric.
Make a tiny knot and snip the thread. Open up the pair, lay them flat and rotate them so that the petal is slightly left.
10. Insert the needle under a fold of a petal and bring it out at the corner as before.
Lay this petal on top of the center hexagon with the thread at the top right. Whip-stitch the seam, make a knot, and bury it as you did before. Open them up. (If you look closely, you can see that the top edges of these two hexagon petals do not match up. I’ll show you how to fix that later.) Rotate them slightly left.
11. Continue adding hexagons, as in Step 10, until all of them have been attached to the center. After the last hexagon is sewn on, make a knot at the end of the seam, but, do not cut your thread as before.
12. Fold the “flower” in half with the end of the last seam on the left.
Align the edge corners, and ease any fullness as you whip-stitch the seam. Bury the thread and make a new knot as before. Turn the flower around and stitch the seam on the other side.
13. Here the length of these two hexagon edges are very different.
I just matched the corners and eased in the fullness as I sewed.
Turn the flower and fold it in half so that new petal hexagons are lined up to sew together. Insert the needle under a fold of one of the petals and whip-stitch the seam on each side. Turn and fold it one more time and whip-stitch the last two seams.
You can make two of these and sew them together to make a unique mug rug.
Add some on the sides to make the center elongated, and then, add more rows around it for a table runner.
Or, continue adding rows of hexagons to make a table topper as I’m doing here.
The design possibilities are endless!
Just have fun with them!