Thread preference for sewing hexagons
 

I am doing EPP (large hexagons - 4-inch sides) for the first time and so far, my stitches are showing a little (on the front after it's done) and it just doesn't look very nice. I have been using 60 wt. thread (Bottom Line) and doing a whip stitch. What do you think about using Invisifill 100 wt. thread for this process? Is it just that I need more practice so the stitches won't look so wonky. Have any of you used the Ladder Stitch method? I am loving the project and really want to be pleased with it when it is done. Any help would be appreciated.

I am experimenting too! I think the old adage about "kissing a lot of frogs to find your prince" applies. You can read blogs and it seems everyone recommends all kinds of things - I think it is a case of finding what makes you happy by trying a variety of things. You have picked a fun project for sure!

If you are stitching together by hand (?) try using a whip stitch on the diagonal, it will show less on the other side. I also use a thread that will blend in with the background of the color hexie I'm sewing. :)

I always use a ladder stitch and much prefer it to a whip stitch, which was the way I originally learned. You rarely ever see any of your stitches. My grown daughter even brought me a well-loved huge teddy bear she's had since she was a baby that had lost about half the stitches around the neck and used a ladder stitch for that and you couldn't see them at all. I even use a ladder stitch for binding my quilts because it's so neat.

I use thin waxed beading thread. Just keep sewing them, you will get better as you go.

I do the ladder stitch too but I have over the years used the vinyl hexagons and you can sort of stitch more toward the back side edge. But your stitch will always show some what, even if you use the really fine silk thread. I know some who uses thread that matches. Sometimes I am able to color the white thread using Pigma markers to get a close match so the thread doesn't show as much. Just have to try various techniques and see what works best for you. Good Luck !

I use silamide type A thread...so far the best, in my case anyway, and I open the hexies...the one I am attaching to the the one I am attaching to and then whip together.....I think, in my case anyway, when I have then face to face, whip together, then open up there is that nano amount of thread that shows from the fold over, but then I sew side to side stitches are in the back of that hexie....saw it in web somewhere.....tried it...and my preferred way of doing it. But, each has to find what works for them.....

I've not done EPP but for applique I use 100 wt silk thread in matching colors, it's very strong.

A question for those of you who have actually FINISHED a hexie quilt...after quilting and washing, do some of the original stitches sort of sink in and hide themselves? I'm really hoping the answer is "yes", lol. I'm slowly improving but some of my first hexie flowers show pretty much every stitch. :shock:

I think the stitches do sort of sink into the fabric after washed. I've completed and washed 2 GFG, and some stitches may show a bit, but who looks for them? I surly don't! Matching colors of thread does work sometimes, but if you are stitching a dark or med. dark hexie to a lighter, it's pretty much impossible to match to both. I've looked "close up" at many EPP quilts on line, and most have a few stitches showing. I think it's something we just have to live with! Some folks use the ladder stitch, and I can see where the stitches won't show so much. You may want to try that.

This is the method I have used as well and don't recall really seeing any stitches on the front side. I'm not a picky thread person, so I just match color as best as possible regardless of thread type. Although, for hand applique I would probably go with silk just because it is so much finer - but (at least for me) a bear to work with.

YES!! Ladder stitch is much superior to whip stitch, in my opinion. Here is a sample of some hand stitching I did with ladder stitch.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]498784[/ATTACH]

Here's a link to another thread about hand sewing hexies together:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...s-t254020.html

I changed to hand sewing them together the same way I would hand piece anything. Much faster and easier for me!

Thank you all for responding. I stayed up late last night and experimented. Using the invisifill thread was a finer, neater look and the ladder stitch did disappear, but when I gently pulled the hexes apart, they did tend to separate. I think that was just because it was my first experience though. I have never heard of silamide type A thread before, so I am going to look that up today, and I have some silk thread so I will try that too. My mom made a gfg quilt and it is beautiful. She is gone now, I wish I had asked her more about her work. She made everything look so easy and so beautiful. I am going to keep on stitching. You have convinced me that I can come up with something I will be pleased with.

Peckish, your stitching was amazing! I am going to try the ladder stitch again.

In spite of my learning curve problems, I am loving the project.

I have tried both types of stitching and they both have their drawbacks: whip stitch does show a little but not so much that I don't like it, and ladder stitch is a bit slower going - at least for me it is. I tend to like hand quilting thread because I know it's very strong but I don't bother to match because you can't when you use two different colored fabrics (always). So now after reading this is the Silamide a silk thread? Is silk pretty strong? I don't know that much about threads.

Here is a link to the silamide A thread that was mentioned (it is nylon thread):
http://www.amazon.com/BeadSmith-Sila...dp/B000RB1K5G/

It comes in black and other colors also.