I recently had a busy afternoon making an appliquéd hexagon cushion at work.
The yellow ombré cotton works perfectly against a slate grey Essex linen background.
The photograph above shows the traditional technique of English paper pieced hexagons in progress. Fabric hexagons are cut out (about 1cm bigger all round than the paper hexagons), and then pinned to the paper pieces.
Usually, in pieced patchwork, these would be hand stitched together to form a cushion or quilt top. However in this instance, they were to be appliquéd separately onto a backing, rather resembling either a drawing of a molecule or a deconstructed piece of honeycomb, I thought. In order to do this, I needed to take the papers out before applying them, so pressed and tacked them before sewing into place.
Once a design was settled on, I pinned them in place and got stitching on the machine. It didn’t take long to complete the cushion front. I had a hexagon left so sewed that to the middle back before making the fabric into an envelope cushion.
I love the combination of the yellows on the grey background, and such a great use of the ombre fabric too. I do think that this could lend itself as a smaller scale of hexagon to a motif on an a-line skirt, or the pocket of a Japanese apron. Hmm, perhaps I’ll bear that in mind!