Originally Posted by
Janet My
Jan.... I do an assembly line... stitch #1 & 2 on... all 8 at once... (I usually ck the 1st one to make sure every thing covers) Pull the 1st one through & start doing them in a row. Take them to the table & clip threads on one side... flip over... do other side & pull pins out. Press all the pieces... back to the table... then trim up & place the next piece on each one than back to the sewing machine. Shoot... I just made myself dizzy.
I am a newbie to quilting and paper piecing. When I first paper pieced, I tried to cut the pieces as small as possible to fit the area rather than following the instructions in the pattern. I thought this was a way to be frugal and save fabric, but quickly learned that I would often have to recut because of sizing issues and restitch for the same reasons. Clearly, my efforts at frugality were costing more in errors and effort than I was saving. (I do still save my scraps for crazy little stitchings...) I also follow the Doak method of assembly line and chain piecing as I have found it is quicker than completing each section individually. Not as much quick gratification seeing a section completed quickly, but much faster as a whole, IMHO. I do round up my cuts to the nearest larger inch, 1/2" or 3/4" now - none of that silly 3/8" or 5/8" business for me - who can even see those little lines? I have found that having a bit extra for the background portions of the blocks gives me a bit of 'fudge' room when triming.