handsewing hexies
 

I am working on my go quilt...so named because I only work on it when not at home....I have a few rows sewn on the hexies and am not happy with the stitching and the way it shows through to the front side....I realize that you have to look closely to see, but I can see every one!....I have tried very hard to only pick up a couple threads with no improvement....what type of stitch are you using that it doesn't show on the front side? Ò

I know how you feel.....finally think I have solved the problem for me anyway.......bought silamide thread type a....from beadwrangler....thanks to tip from here...thread is very thin and almost invisible when stitched into hexies......go to sue Davy's YouTube tute....great info there....also a few more sites available...just click, watch, and see what works for you. I use a combo of the way sue daly sews together and also Mickey Depre's ...she sort of holds the hexies side by side and takes a whip stitch across both of them.......that seems to make it disappear like the seam of clothing.....just make sure your stitches are snug, but not super right...that will cause them to stretch and show when you open up the hexies....so far you are doing good....my salvation has been changing to that silamide thread......

I was given some hexie work done by someone in Europe. The stitches were so fine i could hardly find them to clip them out. I wanted to rearrange the hex's more by colors. never finished. Sent it all to a good friend in Houston who is European for her to work on. They were beautifully done. never in a million years could I do stitches that fine. they did not show on the front at all.

I switched from cheap thread to a finer thread and when I have strong colors I try to have thread that kind of matches. Sewing navy blue hexi's together with white thread always caused me fits, but once I switched to a Quilt Store thread and used blue it looked great. Between better thread and adding a few colors to my collection I no longer see stitches.

I use the whip stitch, and manage to do a fair job, but have read several posts that people use the ladder stitch. I can see where that would be much less visible. Will try it on my next project. I have seen a tute on the ladder stitch with EPP. Perhaps if you Google ladder stitch/hexagons, something will come up. I think your hexie top is looking great!

When your stitches show you are biting to far into your hexies

I'm a perfectionist with my sewing/quilting---all my friends would STRONGLY "Amen" that! So when I started EPP they were exasperated with me. I, too, didn't want stitches to show on the front. You've gotten some great advice to try and we all have to find what works for us. What finally worked for me was a 50wt thread like Superior thread or silk thread in a matching color and not-so-tight stitches. Happy stitching! And don't be afraid to try something different when things aren't working for you.

I had the same problem when I tried to use a whip stitch on hexies. Ended up simply piecing the hexies together, same as one would hand piece any block pattern -- using a running stitch. Jinny Beyer hand pieces this way, if you have access to her book and/or video demonstrating what she does. Her running stitch is very fast because basically she is manipulating the fabric onto the needle (rather than moving the needle in-and-out of the fabric). I never got as fast as she is, but it went a lot faster for me than whip stitching did -- plus, my stitches didn't show afterwards. A la Jinny Beyer, I do a small backstitch every couple of inches when doing a running stitch to piece.

If an area where I have stitched bothers me especially with darker fabrics, I just color the thread very carefully with a Pigma marker, they are permanent. Using the fatter vinyl plastic hexes allows me to catch more of the back than the front so when I even use quilting thread, the stitches don't show as much.

I average 18 sts to the inch whip stitching most hexagons together, and yes, you can 'just' see the stitches, but it's quite usual to use thread that blends in and that means the stitching isn't so noticeable. Even on silk using silk thread the stitching does show a little (usually 25st to the inch on that). Your hands find a rhythm and the pieces come together quite quickly.
Thing is though; you show your stitches when you quilt, why should neat and tidy and even hand stitches not be seen on hexagons, or other paper pieced patches, too ?

Mary