DOTTYMO

Is American, Australian, etc not England paper piecing different than English paper piecing? If not why add the word English surely paper piecing is enough for comprehension.
the weird things my mind worries about.

mawluv

I've often wondered the same thing, why it's called, English Paper Piecing. Maybe someone can enlighten us!

Panchita

My understanding is that there is indeed a difference in what is meant on each side of the pond.

When Brits talk about 'paper piecing' they usually mean when paper templates are cut out, covered in fabric, and then hand-stitched together. Stereotypically this can involve hexagons. "English paper piecing" - gets shortened (in Britain) to "paper piecing".

When Americans talk about 'paper piecing' they mean using a paper template to stitch fabric onto a paper pattern ('foundation') using a sewing machine as in this YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_w35u9gICk (hope that works - if not there are millions of YouTube videos of this!). "Foundation paper piecing" gets shortened to "paper piecing".

Most of the discussion/talk about quilting on the Internet tends to be American-based, so usually when someone talks about paper piecing I assume they mean with a foundation paper and a machine, but it took me quite a while to figure this out!!!

Hope I've explained this clearly...

Panchita

As for why "English" paper piecing - which re-reading the question may be what you actually wanted to know LOL - I'd guess because that style of piecing is viewed as the 'old-fashioned' style that came over to the States with the Mayflower from England, but I have no evidence to support this!!

ckcowl

English paperpiecing is a technique all its own and quite different from paper ( foundation piecing). Compare Carol Doak and Karen Stone paper piecing with ( Grandmother's Flower Garden) Hexie ( English paper piecing) or the Millefiore sew along.
Paper/ foundation piecing used to achieve sharp points, shapes otherwise impossible with ( normal) piecing technique and ( Traditional, English) which is a very old technique done by folding fabric over templates and hand stitched together

luvspaper

agree with the others that there are two very different methods -- however both use paper. One is generally done by hand (EPP) using a specific set of shapes such as hexies, elongated hexagons, diamonds, squares, etc and hand sewn together. Whereas the other is a pattern for a block where the shapes generally aren't regular and you use the paper as the specific pattern and sew in a specific order. It is often done to get very sharp crisp matching points and is generally done on a sewing machine.

ManiacQuilter2

Two different techniques are being discussed and could be confusing. We are NOT discussing paper piecing where you sew an entire block or design on a piece of paper flipping back and forth. The question was is English paper piecing the same in America, Australia and England the same thing. I think it is the same with the exception of the difference in measuring. Here is some history English PP on this website:
https://www.paperpieces.com/about-us.htm.

tessagin

Been doing a lot of go "piecing" as I call it, lately. Anything that can go with me.

quilting cat

The technique of stitching along the edges of fabric folded over pieces of paper long preceded "foundation" paper piecing. I know it was used in the U.S. early in the 20th century because I have a piece done of 1" squares.

DOTTYMO

Thank you for the explanations. Now I understand why some of my patterns from America have not been exactly what I thought I was getting. I love English paper piecing and have done the paper piecing. Anything I can hand do is what I love.