I was looking for a fully by hand quilt to work on while waiting for my kids during classes and things and someone on here posted a youtube english paper piecing tutorial for a GFG quilt. It seemed simple enough so I got decided on and got together the fabrics together, got it all prepped and then got card stock and printed out and then cut a bunch of hexes.

I now have one flower fully complete with its pathway, another flower started and almost enough hexes basted to end up with seven flowers complete with pathway.

My problem? I am having a hard time with the basting. I find it hard to push/pull the needle through four layers of fabric and two layers of card stock. That's my right hand. My left fingers get "tired" from pinching the fabric and card to baste it.

Any suggestions from anyone or does it just get better with doing it more? Any accessories that I should have? I do have an open endish type thimble but have a hard time with it. Maybe using it would just give me the practice with it to get used to it. I also have what I have always heard called finger condoms that I was told to purchase for some class but I don't remember which one and therefore what their use was.

Tara

You are not suppose to go through the card stock. Only the fabric.

I used freezer paper not card stock. It bastes really ease. When I whip stitch my hexes together I only catch the fabric and not the paper. Lots of ways to do this style of hand work.

you only baste the fabric through the cardstock one time, when you sew 2 pieces together you do not sew through the paper, once you get them sewn together you remove the big baste stitch and take out the template, if you sewed the papers together you're going to taer it up trying to remove the paper
OR... did i misunderstand what you said? :oops:

Are you talking about when you sew the individual hexes together in topairs, and then the pairs to form the flower?

Because you don't sew through the fabric or card stock.

You just whip-stitch the edges together, grabbing a bit of the fabric of the both hexagons.

I'll bet you were having a tough time. Yikes.

You'll see how easily (and quickly) it will go together now.

(I can't find an appropriate link - figures, huh? - but they're out there for sure.)

I cut my GFG hexagons out of freezer paper and iron it onto the back of my fabric. There's no problem getting the needle through it. I trim the fabric to within 1/4" of the paper, fold over the edges, and baste around it. The paper won't slip because it's adhered to the fabric. Once I've stitched my hexagons together and removed the basting thread, it's no problem to pull out the paper on the back.

The problem isn't when I am whip stitching the hexes together. That is going great. The problem is when doing the initial quick baste to hold the square of fabric around the hex. I'll get pics.

The first pic will be my first flower and the second will be the baste process the tutorial taught.

Tara

Is there a reason why you are using two layers of card stock? That would be very thick to sew thru. I just used templates made with regular photocopy paper. Once you get the basting to go easier on your hands, I think you'll really enjoy this project! Best of luck to you!

I might not have a full picture of what you are doing but I think you are supposed to just whip stitch the corners together then remove the card stock before you sew them togther into the patch. This is a wonderful take along project so don't give up on it! Your work so far looks great. Boy are you gonna have a good laugh about this when you do it the easy way! :D :D

I wouldn't remove the papers until the hexagon is whip stitched to other hexagons on all sides. The paper is what is holding the shape and gives you stability while doing the whip stitch.