Learn to Sew English Paper Piecing Hexagons with Confidence

One of my very favorite things to make English Paper Piecing Hexagons. English Paper Piecing, also known as EPP, is a method of hand sewing to create shapes that would be difficult to sew by machine. For EPP you use precut templates in your desired size and then baste your papers to them, and then sew the hexagons (or other shapes) together.

Getting Started with Hexagons

I recorded this video for you to help you get started making the hexagons, whether you’d like to thread-baste or glue-baste your hexagons. I prefer to thread-baste anything with a 1″ or shorter side and then glue anything larger.

Supplies to Get Started

In this video I shared my favorite supplies, they are:

• Paper templates for 1-inch hexagons
• Acrylic Template with 3/8″ seam allowance
• Millner’s Needles
• Aurifil Thread
• Sewline Glue Pen
• Elmer’s School Glue
• Clover Wonder Clips

Sewing the Hexagons Together

Once I’ve made enough hexagons for my project, it’s time to sew them together! I created another video for you to see how I sew them so that you can confidently sew your hexagons into a panel for your pouch or into something more!

Removing the Hexagon Papers

After you’ve basted and sewn your hexagons, it’s time to remove the papers. First, I want to note that I don’t remove the papers until I am ready to make the hexagons into a project. So if you make a hexagon panel, remove the papers when you’re just about to sew that into something else. Give your work a nice, dry press and let it cool completely. Then work on removing the papers.

If you thread-basted, you should be able to just loosen the papers and take them out. If you used glue, I like to place the fabric right sides down on a flat surface and carefully break the fabric free from the paper.

Hexagon Project Inspiration

I love selecting the fabrics, fussy cutting the hexagons, and then the methodical slow stitching of sewing them together. While I’ve never gotten far enough to make a hand-pieced quilt, I love making small projects out of hand-pieced hexagons.

For my Rae Pencil Case, I decided to fussy cut some of my very favorite fabrics and then sew them into the pencil case. I’m not sure what it is about the slow-sewing, but I loved every minute of it!

If you haven’t tried EPP yet, a small project like the Rae Pencil Case is a great place to get started.

I hope this has helped you if you want to get started on EPP and aren’t sure where to begin! I just love sewing by hand and I hope you will too!

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