When I was in Houston in 2016 my special exhibit was right across the aisle from the beautiful Millefiori exhibit with all the beautiful English paper pieced quilts inspired by Willyne Hammerstein and I became fascinated with English paper piecing. I did a few pieces out of fancy silks but then I began to wonder how these would look using linen parts.
American Quilter magazine approached me in February about doing an article for their upcoming September issue and they wondered if I had anything new I could write about??? I told them about my new venture with Lexies (Linen Hexies) and they were all over it. (The digital version of this issue will be online within a few days, accessible to anyone with a current membership (even if you just subscribed and you won't get a hard copy until the next issue). You simply need to go to americanquilter.com and you'll see a teal "Download the latest issue" box on the left side.
I've created four different styles of Lexie quilts using the linen bits and parts that I seem to have baskets of. I'll give you an brief overview of my process. Look for the first three quilts in the current September issue of American Quilter!
Quilt #1. Lexies Using Hankie Corners.
I used a 1 3/4" hexie template with "normal" cotton fabric and made a ring.
I had 6 1/2" of space to fill in the middle so I made a circle template out of plastic and centered this on the hankie corner and marked/cut the circle. (I stabilized the hankie with an iron-on stabilizer first).
(Photo courtesy of American Quilter Magazine)
I placed the hexie ring on top of the hankie circle and stitched it down. You can stop at just one to create a beautiful small project OR you can join several of them together like I did. The unit is then stitched to the background fabric, the backing trimmed away and you're ready to quilt.
My small quilt used a triple-line background with beading and a beautiful lace border.
Quilt #2. Lexies Using Lace Parts.
I created Lexies using Damask napkins. These have a beautiful secondary design woven into the fabric. I used the same 1 3/4" hexie template as before and made a ring.
I drew a 6 1/2" circle on some tan linen yardage and then went to my lace parts basket and started laying down some of my favorites. (I did a very light spray with spray baste to help hold the lace down) The Lexie ring was then placed on top of the lace circle and then hand stitched down.
(Photo courtesy of American Quilter Magazine)
You can stop at one ring OR you can do many units like I did. I hand stitched the entire unit to a silk background, trimmed the backing away and then quilted. The lace was all hand stitched down and then beads/buttons were added. GREAT way to showcase lace!
Quilt #3. Lexies Using Linen Embroidery.
I created these Lexies using a 3" hexie template. This is a great way to used damaged linens and small pieces you can't do anything with.
Using a larger hexie allowed me to showcase the beautiful embroidery on these otherwise unusable linens.
I intermixed embroidered pieces with Damask pieces, sewed the entire unit together and hand stitched to a heavy black linen fabric and then quilted.
One of my students gifted me with a small jar of vintage miniature doll buttons and I used every single one of them to embellish this piece.
(Photo courtesy of American Quilter Magazine)
Quilt #4. Lexies Inspired by Millifiori.
I have a very awkward narrow area above my couch that I've been itching to do a special wall hanging for and it was the perfect excuse to do Lexie medallions using the templates from the Millifiori patterns. I have to admit I didn't use the patterns from the book but used just the cardboard templates to make my own designs. I kept the hexie templates on the larger size to accommodate the embroidery on the linens.
One of my challenges was finding six of the same embroidered design to create the medallions. The perfect solution was placemats! You can find vintage placemats sold in units of six or eight which gave me the repeats that I needed.
I intermixed the Lexies with Dupioni Silk. I stitched each unit to Dupioni silk yardage and hand stitched in place.
This is obviously still being worked on but is far enough along to share. I am in the middle of adding vintage lace and buttons and will be adding a small bead to each diamond point in the background. LOVE this piece!
I hope I've inspired you to create your own Lexie quilts! I will be adding these as a new chapter in my Linen Wholecloth Quilts
E-book next year.
If you have any questions at all you are more than welcome to contact me via email. Thank you!
Cindy :)