FREE Template :: 1″ Hexies for English Paper Piecing

I have pulled together for you a FREE printable of 1″ hexies for use in your English Paper Piecing projects.

I don’t know about you, but every time I want to do some EPP I either can’t find any papers or I seem to re-invent the wheel when it comes to making my templates. So for the sake of us all I have designed a printable sheet of 1″ hexies.

There’s a listing for the FREE printable for you at the bottom of the page. There’s also some links to some You Tube videos, especially great if you are new to English Paper Piecing

Printing out your Hexies

Make sure that you print out actual size. If you need advice on printing out pdf documents have a look at my guide on assembling pdf patterns. There are some good tips on printer settings.

The edge of the hexie should measure 1″ across.

The free download of 1″ hexies can be printed on A4 or Letter paper.

Paper Options for Hexies

Traditionally hexies were made with newspaper cut to size, but these days we tend to use something more substantial.

Printer paper (normally 80gsm) will do the job perfectly well, however I like to use a slightly more heavyweight paper or even something more like a card stock.

If you are happy using standard printer paper consider using old print-outs that you no longer need, it’s a great way of recycling!

Cutting out

The hexies have been laid out so that they are as easy as possible to cut out.

You can of course cut out the hexies from your free printable with scissors but they can be cut out relatively quickly using your rotary cutter.

I like to keep my old rotary blades and use them for cutting out paper patterns and templates. Whilst the blades may be too dull for fabric, more often than not they are still more than sharp enough for cutting paper. I actually pop mine into an old handle that I dropped on the floor. The locking mechanism still works but is now far too fiddly to use for day to day cutting so it has been re-deployed as a paper rotary cutter

Start off by cutting vertically, trimming the sides off the paper. If you have printed off on Letter sized paper, these side pieces will be more narrow.

Next cut diagonally through the columns of hexies, to create five rows.

Next cut diagonally through the rows to separate the hexies.

This will leave the hexies with just one or two little corners to trim. This can be done with either your rotary cutter or a pair of scissors.

Print out as many sheets as required for your project (there are 16 hexies per sheet).

Optional Extra

You could use a hole punch to make a hole in the middle of each hexie. I can’t quite get the hole in the middle of my hexies, it’s much closer to the edge, but it works good enough for me. I can get a stack of about 8 sheets of standard printer paper hexies punched at the same time.

You can use this hole in two different ways

• use a pin to secure the fabric to the hexie, instead of using a sewing clip or paperclip
• gives you a hole to poke an awl or seam ripper (carefully) into in order to make paper removal easier

So there you go, a little stack of hexies!

The PentaPinnie pattern is one of my most popular patterns. It’s a lovely little EPP pattern great to make for yourself or to give as a gift.

I have a couple of YouTube videos where I run you through some of the basics of English Paper Piecing. Do have a look as I share with you loads of great tips to get you started.

Learn 3 different ways of basting your EPP shapes

Learn the basics of sewing a whip stitch

Learn the basics of sewing a ladder stitch