Quilting using paper as a base is called English Piecing and is a wonderful relaxing way to hand piece a quilt because it is so portable and accurate. The two important aspects of paper piecing are cutting the paper ( I prefer to use a light card ) and tacking the fabric ‘ firmly and neatly’ to the card. If you are adapting a regular pattern to use with paper piecing you must cut a fraction off of the edges of the pattern piece card to allow for the thickness of the fabric when it is folded around the paper. This may seem funny but with a quilt with hundreds of pieces, by the time you get to the outside pieces you can be an inch off. Pin the fabric and tack it to the card by using a running stitch ( no knots ) so that it looks neat and firm. when you are completely finished with the top remove the card. I usually make a fabric template for each different shape that includes the trimmed card plus about 1 cm or quarter inch to be folded under. When you join the pieces use an whip stitch with right sides together and again no knots . I start to sew a back stich about an eight of an inch in from a corner and then change directions and catch only a thread or two on each piece. Stiches should be close to each other to ensure when opened out there are no ‘holes’ between the edges. Hope this helps.
December 16th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Quilting using paper as a base is called English Piecing and is a wonderful relaxing way to hand piece a quilt because it is so portable and accurate. The two important aspects of paper piecing are cutting the paper ( I prefer to use a light card ) and tacking the fabric ‘ firmly and neatly’ to the card. If you are adapting a regular pattern to use with paper piecing you must cut a fraction off of the edges of the pattern piece card to allow for the thickness of the fabric when it is folded around the paper. This may seem funny but with a quilt with hundreds of pieces, by the time you get to the outside pieces you can be an inch off. Pin the fabric and tack it to the card by using a running stitch ( no knots ) so that it looks neat and firm. when you are completely finished with the top remove the card. I usually make a fabric template for each different shape that includes the trimmed card plus about 1 cm or quarter inch to be folded under. When you join the pieces use an whip stitch with right sides together and again no knots . I start to sew a back stich about an eight of an inch in from a corner and then change directions and catch only a thread or two on each piece. Stiches should be close to each other to ensure when opened out there are no ‘holes’ between the edges. Hope this helps.