We Make Hexagon Quilts by Hand. Here’s What That Actually Looks Like.

If you’ve ever looked closely at a hexagon quilt, you know how easy it is to get lost in it.

One hexagon leads to another. You start noticing the florals, stripes, tiny prints, unexpected color combinations, and fabrics you never would have thought to put next to each other.

At One Common Thread, we’ve watched thousands of those little hexagons become something much bigger.

Our hexagon quilts and products are made by hand in Honduras, one piece at a time. And while it’s easy to look at a finished quilt and appreciate how beautiful it is, the finished quilt only tells part of the story.

So we wanted to show you what actually goes into making one.

It Starts With Fabric

Before there is a quilt, there is a lot of fabric.

Much of the fabric we use has been donated to One Common Thread. Some pieces arrive in large cuts. Others are scraps left over from someone else’s sewing room.

Eventually, they all have the chance to become part of something new.

That’s one reason our hexagon quilts have such a distinctive look. They aren’t designed by choosing five perfectly coordinated fabrics from a collection.

A floral might sit next to a stripe. A bright pink might end up beside a deep blue. A tiny piece of fabric that might otherwise have been discarded can become one hexagon in a quilt that lasts for years.

And because the available fabric is always changing, no two quilts are exactly alike.

Then Come the Hexagons

A finished quilt can feel enormous compared with where it began.

Because it begins with just one little hexagon.

Each piece of fabric is prepared individually before it can become part of the larger quilt. Then there’s another. And another. And another.

Eventually, those individual pieces start becoming groups, and those groups begin looking like a quilt.

This is one of our favorite stages to photograph because you can see just how much work exists before there is anything that resembles a finished blanket.

Yes, Our Hexagon Quilts Really Are Sewn by Hand

This is an important distinction.

The hexagons you see aren't simply a pattern printed onto a large piece of fabric. Each piece has to be joined to the pieces around it.

By hand.

One hexagon becomes two. Two become a cluster. The clusters get bigger and bigger until eventually hundreds of individual pieces have become one quilt.

It’s slow work.

But slow is part of what makes these quilts what they are.

How Many Hexagons Are in a Hexagon Quilt?

This is one of those questions where the answer is: it depends.

Quilt dimensions and hexagon size make a huge difference.

But rather than giving you a generic quilting calculation, we want to count one of our actual quilts from beginning to end.

Then photograph them.

Because “hundreds of pieces sewn together by hand” sounds impressive.

Seeing hundreds of tiny hexagons spread across a table is different.

Why Don't All the Fabrics Match?

Because we don't want them to.

Part of the beauty of a scrap hexagon quilt is finding connections between fabrics that weren't originally intended to go together.

There may be dozens of prints in a single quilt.

Some are bold. Some are barely noticeable. Some might only appear once.

Together, they work.

We also love knowing that fabric someone once had sitting in a sewing room can become a small part of something completely new.

Are Hexagon Quilts an Old Quilting Tradition?

They are.

Hexagon quilts have been made for generations, which is part of what makes it so interesting to see them finding new audiences today.

In fact, one person responding to the viral hexagon quilt said they had seen a similar design dating to the 1890s.

Trends come and go.

Apparently, hexagons have some staying power.

And Eventually, All Those Little Pieces Become This

This is the part we never get tired of.

You can start with a pile of fabric that doesn't seem particularly remarkable.

Cut it.

Fold it.

Stitch it.

Add another piece.

And another.

And eventually, you're looking at a finished hexagon quilt.

We think there's something pretty wonderful about that.

Want to See More?

You can explore our handmade hexagon quilts and products, learn more about the women who make them, or try making something yourself with one of our quilt kits.

And the next time you see one of our finished quilts, look closely.

Every single one of those hexagons got there one stitch at a time.