When I baste the hexies, I go through the card stock, one stitch per side. When sewing, it is easy to just pick up a few threads for the whip stitch. The GFG I am working on is my first, so I sort of made it up as I went along. Maybe the quilt police will come after me- too bad for them. After I have sewn all the sides on a hexie, I pull out the basting stitch and the card to reuse. It is a great hand project.