fred_mouse ([info]fred_mouse) wrote,
@ 2009-05-05 21:49:00
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Vulture Culture
dear lazyweb

I would like to investigate possibilities for designing a quilt done with hexagonal pieces. has anyone come across any nice online/downloadable resources to enable me to design this in advance? (even a template for hex paper would be better than nothing, but I suspect I would need to make several copies before I'm happy with it, so I'd rather have a digital version).

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[info]fe2h2o
2009-05-05 02:03 pm UTC (link)
Not quite what you're after at all... but I came across this photo last night:-)

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[info]loic
2009-05-05 04:06 pm UTC (link)
Neither is this, but I just had the Best Idea Ever. With a hex-tile quilt you could make an isometric video game blanket. For example Q*bert!!!!

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[info]fe2h2o
2009-05-05 05:04 pm UTC (link)
In fact, someone has:-) Second down here.

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[info]fred_mouse
2009-05-08 02:27 am UTC (link)
neat! oooh, mario. (bad mouse. no more craft projects until you finish one)

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[info]fred_mouse
2009-05-08 02:26 am UTC (link)
I hadn't thought of video games. I went wandering, and was fascinated by the Mario quilts that [info]fe2h2o found. But I don't need *more* craft ideas!!!!

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[info]fred_mouse
2009-05-08 02:25 am UTC (link)
hmm. roughly the right idea, but the hexes are huge!

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(Anonymous)
2009-05-05 10:47 pm UTC (link)
http://stephbg.livejournal.com/ emailed me about your request late last night. So here's what I was going to write to her, but figured I may as well add it direct to your blog!

I have a feeling this design is called "Grandmother's flower garden" or "English piecing" so that might help you in your search. I did a Google search for "hexagonal template quilting" (without the quotes) and got 16,000 hits.

I know you can get perspex templates, but you could also make your own plastic one using milk bottle plastic or similar. Then there are paper pieces (e.g. http://www.craftylady.com.au/cl/category201_1.htm) and instructions on drawing your own (http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Quilting/Howtos/Hexagon+Template.htm), or even some patterns (http://www.ezquilt.com/patterns/templateshapes/templateshapes.htm)

But I think what you REALLY needs are the instructions (and short cuts) available here (the comments have some good suggestions too): http://twiddletails.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-way.html (and here's the pattern: http://www.ciaspalette.com/patterns/06/Hexagons.gif)

Another one with close-up photos of the technique is: http://sunshinescreations.vintagethreads.com/2007/03/tutorial-on-english-paper-piecing.html (ugly site, but hey, the info is there)

Other resources:
* http://www.womenfolk.com/quilt_pattern_history/mosaic.htm
* http://www.patternsfromhistory.com/colonial_revival/flower_garden.htm (with pattern: http://www.patternsfromhistory.com/colonial_revival/flowergarden.pdf)
* http://www.quilterscache.com/G/GrandmothersFlowerGardenBlock.html (with pattern: http://www.quilterscache.com/images7/grandmothflowgardtemp.gif)
* Video and picture tutorial on the technique: http://www.instructables.com/id/Quilting_Techniques_English_Paper_Piecing/
* http://www.cddesigns.com/PaperPiecing/index.html (with hexagon grid: http://www.cddesigns.com/PaperPiecing/HexGrid.html)
* http://www.verticalquiltingcurve.com/how-to-english-paper-piece/

--Rhonda
Blog: http://sandgroper14.wordpress.com
Etsy store (fabric art): http://RhondaMadeIt.etsy.com

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[info]fred_mouse
2009-05-08 02:32 am UTC (link)
thanks for this.

The flower garden design is pretty much what I'm after, but I have my own image of how I want it to work, rather than wanting to use an existing design. However, what I have in mind is quite a complicated design (not truly symmetric, unlike the Flower Garden pattern sections), and I wanted to do some coloured in versions, just paint and paper, to get an idea of how it will look (and to work out what size hexagons I'm going to need, and all that!).

I'm suspecting that 'template' is the wrong word to have been using - but I'm happy to hear that there are hex templates out there to make the cutting easier. I suspect I need to acquire a large cutting mat, a better rotary cutter, and a perspex template as well!

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Hex paper
[info]shrydar
2009-05-06 12:49 am UTC (link)
There are a bunch of pdf generators at http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/ that let you customise line weight and grid density for a range of grid styles including hexes, triangles and octagons :)

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Re: Hex paper
[info]fe2h2o
2009-05-06 07:17 am UTC (link)
_Fabulous_! _And_ it had variable triangle grids! I hadn't realised I was looking for that:-)

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Re: Hex paper
[info]fe2h2o
2009-05-06 07:28 am UTC (link)
Although, be warned that it's a good idea to check the angles it prints are the angles you asked for! (I wanted a 55˚ angle at the base of the triangles. I've ended up printing a 45˚ angle to get it printing out correctly).

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Re: Hex paper
[info]shrydar
2009-05-06 07:31 am UTC (link)
I was about to get distracted into writing one, but for once in my life had the common sense to google for it first to see if someone else had already built it.

Thanks for the warning :)

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Re: Hex paper
[info]fred_mouse
2009-05-08 02:34 am UTC (link)
aaahhhh! oooooohh! (umm, oh, and I could and.....)

now, where are my coloured pencils.

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[info]angriest
2009-05-06 01:04 am UTC (link)
You could potentially give my mum a call, since she's some kind of unearthly guilting queen and has that office in her house filled quite seriously from floor to ceiling with craft patterns and fabrics.

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[info]angriest
2009-05-06 01:05 am UTC (link)
Ah crap, paging Dr Freud - quilting queen, not guilting queen.

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[info]cricketk
2009-05-06 02:15 am UTC (link)
*giggles*

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[info]stephbg
2009-05-06 02:54 am UTC (link)
teehee

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[info]fred_mouse
2009-05-08 02:39 am UTC (link)
indeed. Actually, it occurs to me that I could ask my mother in law, which would probably be a good idea as well.

I have emailed your mum, but only about Quilting.

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[info]callistra
2009-05-06 01:15 am UTC (link)
My mum used the hexagon shapes from the Shape-O from Tupperware to make the cardboard bits and made a queen sized quilt that way.

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[info]fred_mouse
2009-05-08 02:40 am UTC (link)
nice idea! however, I've used the wrong word - I don't need a template for the hexs, I need a way to work out a pattern for where the colours go, because I'm not sure that the idea that I have will work.

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[info]tikiwanderer
2009-05-06 02:14 am UTC (link)
Hexagonal graph paper is easy enough to download as PDF and print out. I couldn't find any in stores when I was working on my current quilt (which is a six-fold-symmetry design, though I'm using equilateral triangles as the base instead of hexagons).

Which reminds me, I should finish the quilt and put photos up online. I've been doing baby mats - have finished the one that's based on pentominoes, am most of the way through the six-fold-star-symmetry, and have done the design for one that's based on Sierpinski triangles. I'd like to do a round one using kite-and-dart Penrose tiling so that I can have five-fold rotational symmetry with zero-fold translational symmetry, but don't think it'll happen soon.

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[info]fe2h2o
2009-05-06 06:22 am UTC (link)
Oooh! Yes! I want to see these!

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[info]fred_mouse
2009-05-08 02:40 am UTC (link)
me too!

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[info]shrydar
2009-05-08 02:39 am UTC (link)
[PNL]'s mum did a Penrose tiled quilt :)

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[info]fred_mouse
2009-05-08 02:41 am UTC (link)
enquring mice would like pictures!

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[info]stephbg
2009-05-06 02:47 am UTC (link)
My friend Rhonda suggests the following:

I have a feeling this design is called "Grandmother's flower garden" or "English piecing" so that might help you in your search. I did a Google search for "hexagonal template quilting" (without the quotes) and got 16,000 hits.

I know you can get perspex templates, but you could also make your own plastic one using milk bottle plastic or similar. Then there are paper pieces (e.g. http://www.craftylady.com.au/cl/category201_1.htm) and instructions on drawing your own (http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Quilting/Howtos/Hexagon+Template.ht
m), or even some patterns
(http://www.ezquilt.com/patterns/templateshapes/templateshapes.htm)

But I think what you REALLY needs are the instructions (and short cuts) available here (the comments have some good suggestions too):
http://twiddletails.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-way.html (and here's the
pattern: http://www.ciaspalette.com/patterns/06/Hexagons.gif)

Another one with close-up photos of the technique is:
http://sunshinescreations.vintagethreads.com/2007/03/tutorial-on-english
-paper-piecing.html (ugly site, but hey, the info is there)

Other resources:
* http://www.womenfolk.com/quilt_pattern_history/mosaic.htm
* http://www.patternsfromhistory.com/colonial_revival/flower_garden.htm
(with pattern:
http://www.patternsfromhistory.com/colonial_revival/flowergarden.pdf)
* http://www.quilterscache.com/G/GrandmothersFlowerGardenBlock.html
(with pattern:
http://www.quilterscache.com/images7/grandmothflowgardtemp.gif)
* Video and picture tutorial on the technique:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Quilting_Techniques_English_Paper_Piecin
g/
* http://www.cddesigns.com/PaperPiecing/index.html (with hexagon grid:
http://www.cddesigns.com/PaperPiecing/HexGrid.html)
* http://www.verticalquiltingcurve.com/how-to-english-paper-piece/

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[info]fred_mouse
2009-05-08 02:43 am UTC (link)
thank you for this. Rhonda also left a comment, but I have anonymous comments set to screened, or some such, so you wouldn't have seen it before. All very useful, but much further along the project than I currently am - I'm actually at the point of trying to work out whether the colours in my head will go together in the real world, or whether I'll have to do something different.

(hmm, have just considered the advantages of *black* as a colour. why would You make me think of black?)

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[info]fe2h2o
2009-05-08 03:39 am UTC (link)
My mum still refers to steph as "P's friend, the one who wears black":-)

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