Kindle Sleeve Tutorial Part 1

Ok, hexagon lovers! Here's the Kindle Cover tutorial I promised! These instructions are for the smaller-sized Kindle- if you have a larger one, or wish to adapt this for an iPad, you'll need more hexagons than I specify.
I'm doing this in two parts since it will probably take more than a few hours for you to make... :)

Materials:

paper hexagons- I used 92, each with 3/4" sides-- I printed them here. Just scroll down to hexagons, and put .75 in for the side length. I love this size because they can be made from pieces as small as 2" wide strips, and yet are large enough to show off each print. You will need to print off 3 pages if you plan on making all the hexagons first, and fewer if you baste and stitch together as you go.
scraps of fabric- enough for the above-mentioned 92 hexagons
Scrap of binding about 42" long
needle
thread- I recently switched to Mettler silk finish (50 weight). I find it tangles less. I also use a natural tone. You will also need perle cotton (#8) if you plan on hand quilting.
scissors
LOTS OF TIME :D


Ok. To start with, baste your hexies, doing a tiny backstitch to tack down each fold, with a small knot at the last corner. I do not baste through the papers.

By doing it this way, I can reuse the templates- I flatten them with a hot, dry iron in between uses- this crisps them back to normal. I've been able to use some 5 times now! The other benefit to this method is that you don't need to remove your basting stitches!

Baste all 92 of these little buggers! If you keep your supplies gathered in a small baggy, it can become your purse project- something easily tossed in your purse when you know you'll be waiting somewhere.

Got 92 hexagons now? Great!

Lay them out in some sort of pleasing fashion...

It needs to be 8 rows wide. If there are some scraps you don't love so much, use them on the edges and corners since these pieces will be trimmed once we square it up. Any hexagon that hangs past the main piece will be trimmed, too... so keep that in mind.

Stay tuned for part 2!