Secret Projects Fabric Scrap Challenge

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A few weeks ago a got an email from the team over at Secret Projects asking if I’d like to take on the challenge of creating something from their fabric scrap bundles, never one to turn down free fabric, of course, I said yes!

Secret Projects are a company whose goal is to empower women in India through the making and selling clothing and homewares. They ensure that they manufacture their goods responsibly so as to have as little impact on the environment as possible. One of the ways they do this is by collecting up their scrap fabrics and selling them as project bundles which are ideal for making all manner of things.

I decided to turn my bundle of scraps into hexies!

What are hexies?

Hexagons (which are affectionately referred to as hexies) are made using a process called English paper piecing (or EPP). Each hexie is made individually by wrapping the fabric around a paper shape, then securing it in place using a basting stitch. Once the fabric is stitched in place you press with an iron and keep making them until you have a decent amount to work with. Once you have a nice collection of varying colours/patterns you’re ready to piece them together to form a new ‘fabric’ of sorts.
They are a fab way for using up scrap fabric and are definitely a great form of therapeutic sewing. It’s the kind of task I like to do whilst listening to a podcast or having the TV/a youtube video playing in the background.

I started by sorting my fabric bundle into scraps of the same pattern, I was surprised by just how much fabric there was and some of the pieces were really good sizes – anything that was quite large has been put to the side for another project at a later date.

I choose to have the Indian cotton scraps bundle sent to me as I’m most used to working with cotton and you can get some nice textures (They also have a sari fabric bundle). One or two of the pieces were a bit thin so I doubled them up to make them opaque as I would be removing the paper hexagon from them after they have all been attached.

I’m always careful to try and place my paper pieces mindfully so that I can get as much out of the fabric as possible. Once they are pinned I cut around them with a small turning seam allowance and run my basting stitches around them.

Once I had a decent amount made up I pressed them with the iron and started to lay them out to see what patterns I could make.
I like to use a simple flower pattern with most of my hexies as it means I can team similar colours together without it looking too ‘heavy’ if that makes sense?

The next step is to start sewing them all together which I do with a small whip stitch.

You want to make sure that you’re just catching the edged of the fabric and not the paper hexie inside, that way you have a nice neat seam and you can remove the paper easily.

I’m still working my way through the scrap bundle and plan to make as many hexie ‘flowers’ as possible. I’m planning to do a running stitch around some on the outside edge to seal the hexie seams and then use them as pot mats for my plants (I keep spilling when I’m watering them so this will catch any drips) and I’ll also be using some to piece together to make a bigger piece of fabric which I may then turn into a pillow or small quilt!