Week 5 of 52 Weeks of Hot Pads | Hexagon Flower

Welcome to the 5th week post of the 52 weeks of hot pads / quilted pot holders.

I thought it would be a great challenge for me to do a pot holder a.k.a hot pads every single week of 2019.

I am planning on having it displayed in my kitchen. They make great decor don’t they?

While I am at it, I am going to be sharing with you a simple tutorial on the process.

You can join in the challenge and make the same hot pads I make every week with the same design or any of your own choice.

In the past year I have been making slow progress on my big English Paper Piecing Project : The Flower Garden.

I have also been making small random hexagon flower here and there whenever I feel like it.

The process is fun and I do enjoy it, however the current life season sometimes slows me down, as I find myself rather prefer sewing at the machine more than by hand at the moment.

Small projects are good though. So this small pot holder /hot pad is a great one to work with for sure.

If you’ve never tried English Paper Piecing before, this is a great project to try.

In this post, I’m sharing another hot pad for the 52 weeks project,

Hexagon Flower Quilted Hot Pad / Quilted Pot Holder

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1. Make a hexagon flower

Using the tutorial from previous post of EPPs on the blog:

• TLMC Resource Library : lots of FREE printable EPP templates
• Cutting Printable EPP Templates
• Basting EPP templates
• Sewing EPP together

you can make a hexagon flower.

Use scraps if you want a scrappy look.

You can read more about my scrap sorting process HERE>. If you don’t have scraps, then just cut some little 2.5″ squares from various fabric to create a scrappy look.

I am using a 2″ hexagon template to make the flower for this hot pad.

2. Baste 6 extra hexagons

Remove the paper templates and glue down the flowers onto a background fabric and the extra hexagons with the following layout.

I usually like to use Roxanne Basting Glue for this.

However, I didn’t have one in hand when I was making this and simply basted it onto the background with pins. I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re a beginner. Roxanne Basting Glue works way better. Simply dab a little underneath the hexies and press onto the background with hot iron. It will keep it secure while you’re stitching it down.

3. Applique stitch the hexagon flower and hexagons onto the background fabric

You can use tiny stitches to secure down the hexagon flower onto the background fabric.

I learned to applique in this class and fell in love with the soothing applique process. I am yet to spend more time doing so. Making this project reminds me that I really do love that process.

Using orange thread matching most of the hexagon fabrics, I think I did quite well. Of course, there is always room to improve. But I really do enjoy making small tiny stitches trying to make it as invisible as I go. Not that I aiming a ribbon with this hot pad, but really I am always amazed looking at those tiny applique stitches on the quilts at quilt shows.

I am still far from that, but I am glad I tried at least and I really do enjoy it. And that is most important.

4. Trim the edges

At first I thought I was keeping it as a square hot pad, but I ended up making it round. If you plan to keep it square, you can trim the background fabric and square the piece.

5. Hand Quilt / Embellish

Honestly, this was quite the wrong move. Trying to hand quilt a thick layer of double batting is not a good idea.

But the vision was there and the look was kind of the look I was aiming for. I was going to do more, but it was difficult to quilt through all the thick layers.

I think it works best as an embellishment though. So if you are making this, maybe you can just make the stitches as an embellishment and not as quilting stitches.

6. Cut into round shape

I ended up making the hot pad into a round shape. Simply using the dish I have that size up well, I trimmed away the excess.

You can also use other method to make a round shape. This tool is useful for cutting round shape.

7. Bias Binding

Since it its round, of course bias binding is a must. You can read in the first posts of this 52 Weeks of Hot Pads how I made the bias binding tape.

Voila!

I think the round shape suits it better.

There you go, our 5th hot pad of the year!

Are you making it? Let me know if you are and tell me how it goes. 

Let me know if you need any help.

Till next time, have a fun time sewing!

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