Moda Honeycombs for EPP

Have you seen the pre-cut hexagons in fabric shops?  Seeing as hexies are all the rage (and have been for some time now it seems), it really isn't surprising that manufacturers have started laser cutting them for our convenience.  Moda makes nice stacks called Honeycombs.  You get 40 per pack and they measure 3" per side.  They come with a piece of template plastic with holes to mark seam allowance, which is great if you plan to stitch them by machine, but I took one look and had other plans..

Moda was nice enough to send me some Honeycombs to play with and today I'm going to share a little tutorial for how to use the Honeycomb pre-cuts for English paper piecing.

A Honeycomb can be cut into the following EPP shapes and sizes:
2" equilateral triangles
2" 60-degree diamonds
1" (short side) kites
2" half hexagons

Depending on the seam allowance you prefer, you can change them up a bit to suit your comfort level.
I happen to be a huge fan of 60 degree diamonds, and if you cut up a Honeycomb, your diamonds come out to exactly 2 5/8" high-- perfect to baste around a 2" template.

So let's cut  some.
First, layer two print Honeycombs.

 Next, place the plastic hexie template (the one that comes with the fabric) so that 1/3 of the hexagon is covered.  Carefully align the corners.

 Here you've got two options-- either draw a line around the template and cut with scissors, or go at it with a rotary cutter (carefully though, a fresh blade can slice through the template plastic)

 

 Your cut may go a bit further than necessary, but that's not really a big deal.  Slide the cut diamonds out of the way, reposition the template, and cut again.

Now you have 6 cute diamonds, ready to baste to your EPP templates.

 The next step is to secure fabric to your templates with paper clips.

Fold in and baste around the edges with 5 backstitches, taking additional bites of fabric along each side.  Do not stitch through the template paper!

Whipstitch your diamonds into a star!

I'm going to turn these into a pillow.  What can you make with Moda Honeycombs and EPP?

Check out my book for more pattern ideas, and get ready to stitch outside this summer!

And so concludes the Quilting on the Go Blog tour.  Thanks to all the great bloggers who participated and thanks to you all for travel stitching with us~  If you haven't already, head over to Lucy's blog to enter the giveaway and don't forget to use the 20% off coupon UNDER20 at Paperpieces.com!

(p.s. this tutorial is cross posted at Moda's Cutting Table and Potter Craft's Crafternews, make sure to pop over there too and say hi~)