I managed to only post twice last week – oops. I finished a quilt in 5 days though, so it was necessary! I’m so excited – you can see some peeks of it on Instagram if you’d like. It’s not a complex pattern, or huge, or even “all-over” machine quilted (I tied most of it), but it’s finished and I love it! It’s actually my second quilt finish in as many weeks. The first one is photographed and ready, I’m just waiting for a good time to post it.

Friday was the  last day of school for us, so I’ve got summer in full swing now, including my 2 year Blogiversary that is coming up really soon! I’m planning some fun stuff to thank you all, so stay tuned…

As part of my next Warp & Weft Sewing Society post I have put together a little tutorial as part of a larger tutorial for the quilt coming at the end of this week. I needed a few black hexies for a very mysterious part of the quilt (hee hee, you’ll have to come back to see it!) and I thought I would make my life a little easier. Turns out you can make these things without basting them! Instead of thread and a needle – you just need some freezer paper and an iron.

Now I know that the hand-sewn element involved in basting these hexies allows you to baste in the car, or make them as a “take-along” project. So, if you are one of those people I have a solution for you too. Instead of using an iron to adhere your freezer paper, try bringing along your hair straightener! The Riley Blake Instagram account posted this last week – and it would work perfectly. You could even use one of those outlet plugins in the car and make them on the road!

You will need:

• freezer paper
• printer
• hexie template (free printable –  3.5″ from point to point, 3″ high)
• scissors
• iron
• fabric for the hexies

Here we go:

Step 1: Cut the freezer paper to a size that will fit into your printer. I used a letter size sheet – so 8 1/2″ x 11″. I put them into the paper tray shiny side up, so my printer would print onto the matte side. Check which way your printer works before inserting the sheets. Now print out your hexie template. You can use the one I’ve provided in the “You will need” list or another one in the size you’d like.

Step 2: Cut out your hexie templates. This is not super fun, but it was a lot quicker than I thought it would be. I’ve noticed that there are pre-cut freezer paper hexie templates for sale online – so you could try that too.

Step 3: Iron the templates onto the wrong side of your fabric, leaving at least 1″ of space between them. The space accounts for the 1/2″ seam allowance. Make sure the shiny side is DOWN, unless you want the paper to stick to your iron! The shiny side of the freezer paper is actually a thin plastic layer, so when you iron it, it temporarily sticks to your fabric. I use the heat setting on my iron that matches my fabric, in this case it was cotton. Iron just long enough to get the paper to stick.

Step 4: Cut out around your templates. Leave at least 1/2″ seam allowance around all edges of your hexies. This is the part that will get folded under and usually gets hand basted.

Step 5: Grab one freezer paper/fabric pair. Pull to remove the freezer paper and flip it over so the shiny side of the paper is facing up, centred on the wrong side of your cut fabric. Fold one edge of your hexie seam allowance over onto the freezer paper and iron it down. Easy peasy, it sticks to the plastic layer! Proceed around the hexie template folding and ironing each side down.

Step 6: When you are done, turn it over (paper side down) and give it a quick press with lots of steam on the right side, to secure the shape. (It might stick a little to your ironing board, but no harm done, just pull it off.) One hexie done! Repeat until you have enough to make your project.

When you want to stitch your project, just remove the freezer paper templates. Because the paper can be ironed multiple times, you may even be able to do this as you finish stitching them together. Anything to save cutting more templates, right?!

I feel that it is a little sad to be posting a tutorial with all of the hexies in black, they are so pretty when they are made in colour! Unfortunately, I needed black hexies, so that is what we get. Curious about the quilt much?! Here’s a little peek… I got to use Warp & Weft’s Charlie Harper Fat Quarter bundle. You’ll have to come back at the end of this week to check it out. I’m so excited to show it to you!