Hex-N-More Ruler Tutorial

 

Due to popular demand, I’ve put together a tutorial on how to use the Hex-N-More ruler!

We all know how excited I am for the upcoming Libs Elliott Weight of Love workshop on March 19 (honestly, it can’t get here quick enough!). Before attending, there was some preparation that needed to be tackled and materials to purchase.
Among them was the Hex-N-More ruler designed by Jaybird Quilts. This little guy (who isn’t so little after all!) has been on a my to-purchase list for quite some time now. So I was really excited to see it as a tool requirement. I mean I “had” to purchase it now 😉 Stacy, my trusty craft-enabler, from Craft de Ville, hooked me up.

After I shared this Instagram post, I received several requests on how to use the ruler. Today’s the day I’m going to show you how!

Here’s how I tackled cutting my fat quarters.

First up, I always start my squaring off my fabric. You want a nice clean straight edge as a starting point.

Next up was cutting my fat quarter into strips. In this instance, I was targeting 6 ½” hexies, 6 ½” half-hexies and 3 ½” triangles. So I cut 6 ½” strips and 3 ½” strips by the width of my fabric (WOF).

And then I trimmed my selvage. Some recommend cutting your selvage off your main fabric (a fat quarter in this instance), but I tend to prefer cutting it off as I go, especially when I know I won’t be using the full amount of fabric. How you tackle this is entirely up to you.

I started with my full hexies. This wasn’t so important for this particular colour as I wasn’t cutting a huge number of each shape; however, for some of the other colours, I started with the full hexie so I could then cut the 6 ½” strip down to 3 ½” to continue cutting half-hexies and triangles from the remainder of that strip.

With my 6 ½” strip laid out, I placed the edge of the ruler against the straight edge of the fabric. Then I cut the top and bottom edges off the right hand of the hexie off.

I then flipped the ruler upside down and aligned the 6 ½” edge of the ruler against the cuts I just made. Then I cut the top and bottom left edges off to complete my first full hexies!

In order to reduce the number of cuts I needed to make, I kept my strips folded. This gave me two hexies for each cut I was making.

For the half-hexies, I used the 3 ½” strips. My first few that I did, I simply cut my full hexies in half…oops! This left me without a seam allowance on the central long edge of the half-hexie. So don’t do that!!

Once again, I cut my selvage off before getting started.

The process is the same as the full hexie; line up the ruler against the straight edge, ensuring the half mark of the half-hexie is fully aligned with the bottom edge of the fabric strip.

Then cut your top and bottom right angles off.

For some reason, I found it easier to flip the fabric instead of the ruler to continue cutting the left side of the half-hexie. Do what you feel most comfortable with.

Continuing with the same 3 ½” strip, I then proceeded to cut the 3 ½” triangles.

I had several of these to cut, so I just kept flipping the ruler and aligning the edge from the last triangle and bottom edge of the fabric strip.

Cut as many as needed. This is the same process I used when I had to cut several hexies and half-hexies. This is why cutting strips makes the process more efficient and ensures you are limiting fabric waste.

For my workshop, I had 17 different fabrics to cut and a different number of shapes to cut from each. It took me quite some time, but I wasn’t rushing the process; especially after my initial boo-boo with the half-hexies! I took a cue from my fellow guild member Dizzy Quilts Blog and labelled all my pieces with painters tape.

You will be left with a nice stack of oddly shaped triangles and for some reason I’m just itching to make something with them!!

Here’s a quick Flipagram to see it from start to finish.

I hope this helps! Do reach out if you have any questions or leave a comment below if you have some tips to share. Sharing is caring after all 🙂

I am now officially ready to tackle the Weight of Love workshop – bring it on!!

xo

Shannon