ok so ive got a hexagon. all 6 sides are equal length. however the top and bottom lines (the horizontal ones) I would like to be longer, so it makes an elongated hexagon. how can I take the middle section of this hex and stretch it.

there is a forum just for gimp called gimptalk.com

you should go there since it seems like you have alot of questions, and not that many people use gimp on here.