Sisty88

Hi there :-)

I've just finished a miniature quilt top that I'm planning to enter into a competition (it's my first try at entering!). The pieces were so tiny that I decided to English paper piece it, and had to glue baste because some pieces were so small that I would have been completely unable to thread baste!

I've just spent a good few hours with my steam iron and a pair of tweezers picking out the papers and have managed most of it apart from the tiniest pieces, because the papers are sort of trapped (I think I must have caught the seam allowances on the opposite side) so I think the only way in would be to snip the fabric, which I don't really want to do because then there would be barely any seam allowance left and I would hate for it to all fall apart now!

I know that sometimes papers used to be left in for extra warmth, so I'm hoping I can get away with leaving them, but is it going to look really silly as it's only certain ones that have been left? Would I get marked down in the competition for this? (this doesn't worry me too much as it's my first time, so not even expecting it to get into the show!) Is there anything I can do to soften the papers up? I've currently got it soaking to try and remove the gluey residue, but any tips at all would be most appreciated!