That is English paper piecing. It is labor intensive hand work. No, you barely catch the fabric and miss the cardstock. I have made 4 hexagon block quilts. One was 3" hexes, one 4". Because of the size, I was able to machine sew them. I did mark the corner points for accuracy. My other 2 were using the "half hexagon" method. I drew out my plan and sewed columns, then sewed the columns together. That method is very fast and easy. I taught it at a guild retreat and everyone came out with attractive quilts.