Quick Machine Sew Hexagon Flower Quilt Block

Sewing a quilt with hexagon flower block for my kids have been in my to-do list for as long as I started this craft blog 11 years ago. However, the project was put off until recently, when I found a quick method to get it done by using a sewing machine.

With this Quick Machine Sew Hexagon Flower Quilt Block method, I can easily get 8 hexagon flower blocks sewn up within an hour, the timing gets better as you sew. 

Read further to get the tutorial on the Quick Machine Sew Hexagon Flower Quilt Block, how do I store the cut hexagon pieces so that they are neat throughout the project, how to piece them into bigger hexagon quilts, and more hexagon flower projects to sew.

Time to complete a project is critical for crafters, especially when we have a long list of craft projects to complete. The sooner we finish one, the better, so we can finish as many projects as we can before the list grows enormously long.

It is not surprising that the balance between leisure time and work time has become increasingly difficult in today’s busy world.

I never sacrifice the quality of my work for the sake of saving time. I wanted something quick but still of high quality, so I created this Machine Sew Hexagon Flower Quilt Block tutorial to share with others in the same situation. 

For this quick tutorial on how to make a hexagon quilt block, you will need fabrics, a sewing machine and some freezer papers.

I know that some experienced quilters never use freezer paper. Instead, they just cut and sew with a sewing machine.

No doubt that you can skip the freezer paper if you are very experienced or if your quilt block is big. But I’ve found that sticking freezer paper to the back of the fabric makes the hexagon-shaped fabric so stable that it’s easy to line up and stitch. It also keeps the raw edges from fraying.

Buying freezer paper is worth the money because it will make things easier and make your project look better.

To make the project go even faster for you, I’ve prepared a hexagon template (with seam allowance) in sizes of 1, 1.5, and 2 inches for immediate download and print.

If you don’t like how I aligned them, you can always download the png artwork in these sizes and align it with word processing software.

You can resize the template slightly, but more than a 10% change in sizes for each size is not recommended. Otherwise, your seam allowance will get too large or too narrow.

I got a little carried away by the fantasy of repeating the process with this method. As a result, I had enough hexies (short of a hexagon flower) to complete three projects.

Hexies bring me joy!

You can also sew the hexies on the shell of the Turtle Pincushion shown below with this quick method too.
(My previous tutorial for this turtle pincushion used the traditional English Paper Piecing method.)

Hope you enjoy sewing hexies with this Quick Machine Sew Hexagon Flower Quilt Block tutorial too.

WHAT’S NEXT:

• Start sewing and share your completed handmade on Facebook and/or Instagram. Remember to tag us, @craftpassion, so that we are able to see them.
• Pin it to Pinterest for future To-Sew List
• Share with your sewing groups for a sew-along event.
• Learn more about the basics of hand sewing and how to choose a sewing machine for beginners.
• Browse more free sewing patterns and home decor projects to make.
• More ideas on hexagon quilts on Pinterest.

Download and print out the template page that I have put together in a Letter Size paper (8.5″ x 11″) and Legal Size (8.5″ x 14″). Remember to cut your freezer paper to the correct size before loading them into the inkjet paper printer and not the laser printer.

Print the template at the non-shining side of the freezer paper without any scaling, also remember to set the correct paper size for printing. There is a 2″ marking on the documents for you to check your printing scale if you are not sure whether you are printing it in the correct size.
A. Easy Cut Alignment (can be cut with roller cutter)
1-inch Letter, Legal
1.5-inch Letter, Legal
2-inch Letter, Legal
B. Compact Alignment (to be cut with scissors)
1-inch Letter, Legal
1.5-inch Letter, Legal
2-inch Letter, Legal

Or, you may arrange the hexagons the way you like by using a word processing software. Download the PNG template of the desired size you want by right-click the following size, then select “save link as” to save it. Open a new Word document and insert multiple of them, align them the way you like to fill up the paper.
Print it on the freezer paper (non-shining side) from your printer without any scaling.
This template comes with a seam allowance of a quarter inch.
1-inch
1.5-inch
2-inch
You may resize them a little if needed but do it within plus minus 10%. Anything beyond this will affect and change the dimension of the seam allowance too much.

Estimate the number of hexagons you need to complete for a project.
Prewash all the fabrics you planned to use and iron them smooth if necessary.
Print out enough hexagon on the freezer paper.

Affix the shining side of the printed freezer paper to the back of the fabric by pressing it with a warm iron.
Make sure the iron is warm enough to make the freezer paper stick well to the fabric. Repeat the pressing if necessary until the freezer paper stick properly.

Cut out the hexagons by using roller cutter and/or scissors. The cut has to be precise and accurate.

Sort out the hexagons and store them in zipper bags if the quantity is huge.

Match the hexagons to build a flower hexagon quilt block with 1 center-piece and 6 petal-pieces.
Group them together and set aside for sewing.

Plan the direction of the pattern if needed to create a special hexagon quilt block before sewing.

Place a piece of center-hexagon and a piece of petal-hexagon together with right sides facing each other. Align the hexagon where all the corners of both hexagons are exactly aligned.
Stitch along the seam line but do not stitch over the seam allowance, also remember to make back-stitches at the beginning and at the end of the stitching to lock the thread. 

The picture shows the flow and sequence on how to sew a hexagon quilt block. If you have experience in hand sew a hexagon quilt block with the traditional English Paper Piecing, this method is the same except that this is using a sewing machine. Right-click the picture to open a bigger image in the new tab if needed.

1. As mentioned in the previous image, place the center and the petal hexagon and sew along the red line.
2. This is how it looks after 2 hexagons are sewn together and open up
3. Now place the second petal under the 1st petal, with right-side facing each other. Stitch along the seam line as shown in red.
4. Open up the flower again.
5. Now we need to stitch the second petal to the center-piece, so you need to fold the first petal to bring the second petal over to the center with right-side facing each other. Align the edges and stitch.
6. Repeat 3 to 5 to get all the 6 petals sewn on in place to form a flower.
7. This is the sixth petal and the method is the same as 5 on how to sew to the center-piece.
8. Fold the flower into halve to make the final stitch to join the last petal to the first petal.
9. This is how the back of the hexagon flower looks like after open up.

Press the seam open and align the side seam allowances outward on the alternate petal, while the seam allowance from the center-piece is pressing inwards (refer to the picture). This will make the hexagon flower stays flat and easy to manage for storage while waiting for the rest of the hexagon to complete.
I did the pressing after I completed about 10 to 20 hexagon flowers.

Repeat to the sewing and pressing to all the hexagons you have grouped accordingly.

Put together all the hexagons to make into a project, be it a big project or a small project.
I made a hexagon flower quilt cover for my daughter. The hexagons are arranged in such a way that there is a single hexagon between 2 flower block, in both horizontal and vertical direction.

Group the flowers and hexagons in sequence row by row, do a simple marking to determine the number of rows and store them aside until their turn to be sewn.

Sew to connect the flower blocks and the hexagons in a row.
By now, after sewing up so many hexagon flower blocks, you will know how to go about on joining the flowers and assemble them into a project.
However, there are 2 ways you can go about.

Either you sew the quilt blocks in rows then join them row by row.

Or, you may join the quilt block to the project as you sew, depending on which way you prefer.

Please note that if you are making a big project, for example, a hexagon quilt, it will get more difficult to move around as the quilt piece grows bigger. Please allowed some patience to arrange the quilt properly for the sewing.
Remove the freezer paper just before you are sewing it up into a project. Iron the seam allowance flat as before is needed, I find spraying it with starch makes the seam allowance stays flat easier.

This is the piece of the hexagon quilt of about 54″ x 58″, 143 hexagons flower blocks + 142 hexagons = total 1,143 hexagons. It is the hexagon quilt cover I sewed for my daughter by using the 2-inch hexagon template, click here for the tutorial.

This is a smaller project I sewed to make fabric book cover, by using the 1-inch hexagon to make the hexagon flower block. Click the link to get the sewing pattern of the fabric book cover.

This is the 4″ diameter hexagon flower coaster by using the 1.5-inch hexagon template. Just line them with a piece of felt fabric.