CD Designs - Basting English Paper Piecing Hexagons

Basting English Paper Piecing Hexagons

In these instructions I am going to describe how to baste a hexagon precut paper shape.

With a piece of plastic or cardboard create a cutting template that has a 1/4" seam allowance added to the size of the paper piece. Use the template to trace around on the fabric for cutting out your fabric hexagons.

Center a paper piece hexagon on the back of the fabric hexagon as show in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Take one edge of the Fabric and wrap it around the paper piece. Use tape to hold the fabric in place as show in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Wrap the opposite edge of fabric over the paper piece as shown in Figure 3. Hold the fabric with your fingers.

Figure 3

Wrap the next edge of fabric over the paper piece and make a whip stitch to gather the corner as shown in Figure 4. Make sure you do not sew the fabric to the paper piece (When working with pieces that have edges that are 2" long or longer, you will need to make a stitch into the paper piece along the edges. This helps keep the nice crisp edge).

Figure 4

Work your way around the hexagon until all 6 corners are fixed. For 2" or larger shapes you will need to baste to the paper piece between the corners. Remove the tape when you get to that edge. The back of the hexagon should look like Figure 5.

Figure 5

Your Hexagon shape is now basted and ready to be whip stitched to another basted shape.