quilting jem

I had a go at foundation piecing today, and all I can say is why hadn't I ever tried that before now!!! All this time I've been venting frustration because my tiny little triangles in a four inch block were not giving me perfect points.

I had enough frustration today, so I jumped online and found some tutorials and decided it didn't look to hard...one hour down and one four inch block completed! I honestly don't know why its taken me this long to try this technique, but now that I have there's no going back!!

I'd be interested in any pointers anyone has - any little tricks of the trade that people have found work for them...

coffeecozy

Isn't it great when something works so well!
I have Peggy Martin's book on quick strip paper piecing and did her craftsy class and really enjoy that method. The fabric is cut into strips instead of using templates to cut lots of little pieces and the foundations are sewn onto the strips and then cut. Perfect points and easy cutting. Now for me, that's a winning combination :-) .

Geri B

That's why there are usually a few ways to do one thing......glad you found the one that works for you....now you can enjoy

pumpkinpatchquilter

I so agree with Geri B up there - there are lots of ways to accomplish the same task and it's amazing the cleverness of quilters to find something that works for them. I love paper piecing and do it for just about anything that requires a lot of accuracy or is pieced very small.

Tips? Maybe perforate computer paper by running through your machine along lines without thread in the machine...or before stitching gently fold along all lines to make ripping easier...cut your fabric into strips or blocks beforehand - or better yet use scraps! Use small stitches to secure pieces while working and also make ripping the foundation easier. Also if you don't have a 1" wide ruler for trimming it's worth the small investment...they are a life saver for trimming away those excess seams down to 1/4". Just watch your finger tips with a ruler that small.

Good luck! Cannot wait to see what you make!

mom-6

I haven't tried it yet, but I've wondered about using a lightweight fabric (something like a very thin muslin) instead of paper so you don't have to remove it. Thought that would also enable using those "too thin" fabrics we all seem to have a few of.

toverly

Congrats! It's fun! The best advice I have ever received on PP is to purchase the Doodle pad paper @ the dollar store. The closest one to me is called Dollar Tree. All you have to do is trim 1/2 an inch off the side and feed it into your printer one at a time.

WandaVA

I love paper piecing! I use regular copier paper, and very small stitches, which perforates the paper and makes it easy to remove. My "must-haves" include good tweezers (for those stubborn giblets of paper) and Add-A-Quarter ruler (an inexpensive ruler that makes it easy to trim the pieces a uniform 1/4").

janRN

The first time I tried paper piecing I, too, was hooked. I love making small blocks. The best investment I made was the Add a Quarter and Add an Eighth rulers that Wanda mentioned. It has a "lip" or ridge that butts up against the folded fabric and seam line to make cutting easy, no slipping or hunting for measurements.

There are so many free pp patterns out there; just Google "Free paper piecing quilt patterns".

ManiacQuilter2

Sometimes hard to try new techniques. I just made my first top using the Tube Strip ruler from Cozy Quilts. I was amazed at how accurate my points came out.

Ariannaquilts

I know that a lot of quilters probably do this but instead of perforating the paper with the unthreaded needle I just saw a young woman use a tracing wheel to do it before she attached the fabric, I thought that was quite clever.