Six Sided Sanity
During 2021, I discovered a new love in hand sewing. Looking for a hobby that was off-screen but still just as meticulous and thoughtful as the design process, I turned my sights to the dainty world of a sewing style called English Paper Piecing. I have found these tiny stitches to be my preferred method of meditation after a day’s work (and a perfect companion to watch Netflix with). It’s been an incredible adventure to see the fruits of my labor turn into a growing stack of hexagonal “flowers” that will someday become a full quilt.
Only about 3000 hexagons to go!
My “sketch” for this quilt involves roughly 15 different colors of quilting cotton and uses a spin on pattern known traditionally as
“Grandmother’s Flower Garden”. Unfortunately, the designer in me jumped ahead to using whatever colors my mind could fathom
which caused quite a headache when trying to color match these with real world quilting cottons. It also sparked a future idea for
a quasi-Pantone system for matching the physical colors of quilting cotton to their digital hex code counterparts.
An army of hexagons waiting to be assembled. The most notable aspect
of English Paper Piecing is that each piece of fabric is wrapped around
cardstock, and glued into place. This forms the structure of the quilt and
allows for the tiny details and creases to be preserved when sewing.
The back of each “flower” has its own technical charm. Once every side
of a hexagon is attached to another, the paper may be removed. In the case
of this flower, the orange hexagon’s paper is ready to be taken out.
A full bouquet, complete and ready to be stitched together.