I had some leftover fabric from a quilt back. I decided to use this strip to make hexagons in the dark gray fabric. I paired with white.
There are surprisingly few videos on how to piece Y seams together. Below is a close up of my Y seams which is not too shabby.
Now I had lots of practice in trying to do LeMoyne Stars the old fashioned set-in way. These 120 degree angles are far more forgiving than the 90 degree angles.
You must mark your hexagon's points at 1/4". If you have an equilateral (60 degree) ruler with holes on the points, you will have a perfect tool for a perfect dot for a perfect DO NOT CROSS point on your block. I used a Pima marker and marked a dot. Pima markers do not bleed like Sharpies (they are both permanent but when you put a Sharpie on the fabric the dot spreads more than a Pima marker.
The Marti Michel Corner Trimmer has these markings. Some Hexagon Rulers have them, some do not. I think that they are essential to quickly and accurately marking your hexagons.
The very best video on sewing Y seams is this one by Sarah Payne. You can find it below:
I will tell you why her video is the best. Most every other video has the viewer
- Marking the entire seam allowance on all blocks; or
- Marking the points on each + sticking a pin through the matching points.
My quibble? All you need to do is mark 1 block. Because you are lining up edges together exactly, the 1/4" point on your marked block is going to be exactly as the one behind it. Marking both and putting pins through the dots and more pins...well that is much more work without any quality differential in your output.
Of course as as serial glue baster, I match my edges and put a dab of glue along the edge so nothing shifts.
Therefore....if you mark your seam allowance with dots, AND never go past the dot, AND line your edges together perfectly (and of course cut perfectly), you will not have any puckers.
The hardest part about any of this is pressing the seams. In addition to Sarah's video above, I found this great video by Emily Breclaw. She demonstrates the spinned seams of 2 half hexagons (which I wrote about here ) as well has pressing and spinning hexagon seams.
My next skill builder is to cut the half diamonds and inset them.. I can see this as being a cute baby quilt pattern using more colorful fabric in place of the gray. Though I have to say, I'm a big fan of gray and white.
My hexagons were 6.5" cut which made them easy to handle, and the piece built quite quickly.
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