1" Little Hexie Cushion Tutorial ~ Part 2 of 2

Firstly, thank you very much for all your kind comments on my post yesterday, it's clear lots of you fancy a go at this.  I would urge you to try, it's someting you can just pick up and do as and when, I think my first cushion was several months in the making!

Shirley asked yesterday about the whip stitch to connect the hexies, I thought I would show you how it's done rather than try to explain. Have a look at this YouTube Video ~ fast forward to 22 seconds.
 You simply sew through one side and straight out of the other, then bring your needle back to the start and enter the fabric next to where you started your last stitch, the cotton comes over the top each time.


As I don’t have another 144 mini hexies ready stitched I will show you the remainder of the cushion using the larger hexie front I have just completed ~ same principal.

Make the Cushion Back 

Next make a cushion back. You will need;

·        A zip ~ at least 16”long (a dress zip)

·        Two large rectangles of cotton 9" x 17”

·        Two small rectangles of cotton 3 ¼” x 2 ¾” (for ends of zip)

 

Start with the zip ends.  Iron a 1cm seam at each edge of the rectangle.  Fold the whole thing in half width ways and iron again.  Slip your zip end into the fold and pin in place.

 

Machine stitch this close to the edge.

Now trim the zip to the length required and add the second piece of folded fabric to the other end, pin and sew in place again.

The zip with ends attached should now be the same width as your cushion front.

Now place your zip, right side down on the long edge of your cotton (above left) and pin in place.  Machine sew the zip along one side using a zipper foot.

Now, turn your zip over and fold your fabric back, pressing it into place. 

(Trim your zip ends if they come past the end of your fabric)

  Place your second rectangle of cotton face down on your first (above right) and pin in place and machine sew as before.

Now, turn your zip over and fold your fabric back, pressing it into place.  When sewing close to the zip, as you get up to the bulky zip pull, with the needle still in the material; lift the foot and pull the zip pull past where you are sewing (above right), lower the foot and continue.

To keep the zipper neat and to stop the fabric from catching on the zip I always add a line of stitching to each edge of the zip using the zipper foot as a guide.

Now with right sides facing machine sew around each edge using a small stitch, then if you don't have an overlocker (like me) add a line of close zig zag stitches to give extra stability.  Trim your excess fabric and snip your corners to give a better finish.

Turn right side out and voila ~ you made a cushion.

You don't have to make a cushion of course, if you had the stamina you could continue on and make a fabulous quilt. 

One good idea is when you get fabric in a swap or as part of a present snip a bit off and put it in your hexie tin, when you construct your cushion you can look and see people in there through the fabrics you used.  Likewise with loved one's old clothes, snip them up and use them in your cushion.

I hope this tutorial made sense, if you have any questions or comments please get in touch.

Nb. Apologies for the dark photos in the cushion construction section, I was making this after work and I missed the light

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If you are interested in getting a little head start I have popped some starter packs in my folsky shop which come with;

♥ Full colour instructions,

♥ A little hexie needle case,

♥ 6 completed hexies to give you an idea,

♥ Approx 36 fabric squares (7cm x 7cm) enough for one quarter of your cushion,

♥ 150 little paper hexies to make your own 1" hexie cushion (no cutting required).

A good chunk of the work done for you ~ click here!

Please note there is only one of these left from the five I listed yesterday!  Thanks guys, if you need one give me a shout and I will make some more.

 

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~ ♥ TTFN ♥ ~