Muse&Sew

I have a few questions about paper piecing.

1) How small of a stitch do most of you use?

2) Problem solving. If you use a smaller stitch & your fabric on the back bunches up. What do you do if the stitch makes the paper fall off and you need to unpick the fabric?

3) I was taught to put you stitch at 0 at the beginning & end of your square you're putting on. Sometimes this doesn't knot the fabric & it comes apart. Do some of you backstitch? Or what is a better way so the stitches don't come apart?

4) Do most of you pin your pieces or just do it by feel?

Thanks for your help!

sahm4605

I sit by a window and line the piece up then sew. I also have my stitch at about a 2 on ky machine which is smaller than most people. Ii have thought about going smaller too but ripping out small stitches is hard on me. I don't back stitch just stitch past fabric line. It holds perdy well. just make sure when.you trim after sewing that your fabrics are all laying rigbt. Been there riped and resewn that.

PJisChaos

I do the same as sahm4605, set stitch on 2 and start before and end after the drawn line. It seems to hold up well.

Peckish

this is what works for ME - your mileage may vary.

1. when I paper piece and actually stitch through the paper, I reduce my stitch to about 1 on the machine. However, I actually prefer to use the fold-and-stitch method, where I fold the paper out of the way and stitch right next to it. This way I don't have to tear the paper off when I'm done. When I use this method, I don't reduce my stitch length.

2. If the fabric on the back bunches up, I get out a magnifying class and carefully unpick. This is another reason I prefer to use the fold-and-stitch method of paper piecing.

3. I don't backstitch or reduce my stitch length at the beginning or end. That's too much work for me to do on every seam, and I've never had a problem with seams coming undone. However, having said that, when my top is complete, I DO make sure the seams around the edge of the quilt top are secure.

4. 90% of the time I don't pin. I nest my seams, and I also have a tendency to make small blocks, so I just hold it together with my fingers. If I was making a larger block, like 14", I might pin.

QuiltnNan

Peggy,
I'm doing my very first pp today. How do you get the fold exactly straight and how to make sure the printed line is just barely out of the way?

Peckish

I use vellum paper. I can see through it to make sure the fold is straight.

If you don't have vellum paper handy, you can use a piece of cardstock, lay it next to your line, fold the paper over the cardstock and crease. Open it back up and make sure your fold is where you want it.

Hope this helps - thanks for the notification!

QuiltE

Which is why I don't like the fold method .... stitch on the line and tear away later!

Peckish

I've tried both methods and prefer to fold instead of tear. To each her own!

QuiltE

1) How small of a stitch do most of you use?
1.0 on a Janome

2) Problem solving. If you use a smaller stitch & your fabric on the back bunches up. What do you do if the stitch makes the paper fall off and you need to unpick the fabric?
I just carefully unpick with a very sharp stitch ripper. If the previous pieces of fabric are somewhat large thus may be loose and flappy ... I tack it down with long basting/machine stitches. And remove later. This can help to avoid fabric bunching up.

3) I was taught to put you stitch at 0 at the beginning & end of your square you're putting on. Sometimes this doesn't knot the fabric & it comes apart. Do some of you backstitch? Or what is a better way so the stitches don't come apart?
No need! Tiny stitches plus crossover of other rows of stitching will anchor your seams.
Likewise for regular non-PP piecework .... if it's going to have another row of stitching crossing it, you should be OK. In principal, the only place where a lock-stitch should be necessary would be on the final row of stitching on your quilt ... the borders.

4) Do most of you pin your pieces or just do it by feel?
No .. pinning can create bumps and not keep the fabric as smooth as you want.
If I need it held in place, I use long running/basting machine stitches, as mentioned above in #2.

Another question that's often asked is what paper do you use?
regular photocopy/printer paper.

How do you remove the paper? and when?
The fine/short stitches makes it pretty easy to remove the paper when the time comes. In fact, I sometimes find that the paper wants to fall off too soon. I keep a roll of painter's tape handy, for band-aids to keep it together til the time is right!

If I'm covering over a seam, once stitched and before the next seam, I take the paper off, just the 1/4" seam area and then do the next seam.

Thanks for your help!
You're welcome! and hope it does help.

QuiltnNan

thanks, Peggy, for the explanation