I’m trying to self teach paper piecing. I’ve seen some of the work here and have watched several You Tube videos. I understand the concept but I have one problem. I can’t for the life of me figure out how much fabric to pre cut for each individual piece in a segment. How is it done?

I'm working the Farmer Wife Sampler and I love the perfect points that paper piecing gives you. Thanks everyone! Mona

Measure the widest point and the longest point and add at least 1/2 to both. I usually add a full inch or inch and a half, it wastes a little more but I don't have to fuss with it so much.

p.s. I must confess, I'm not a professional but I've made 12 mariners compass blocks and a few others. I've also taken a Carol Doak workshop. I hope that's enough. :lol: :lol: :thumbup:

I agree with raptureready, I always cut a piece too big, and then trim it back before pressing.OOps, nearly wrote ironing, and we all know that's not what we do. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Order the video from Connecting Threads by Carol Doak. It makes it very clear.

There is a paper piecing ruler, yes there really is!

It's called Add Enough. Here is a link. There are many online shops that sell it, find a good sale.

http://www.addaquarter.com/

I use a piece much bigger than I need. It's much better than being short on one corner. Then when the piece is attached on and it's perfect, THEN I trim it. Sometimes I would even use a pice that is 4X the size of what I need. In the long run, I have fewer scraps.

If I'm making a repeating block, I precut a strip to 3/4-1 inch bigger. I am making a delectable mountain and just cut strips for the mountain and cut as needed. The sky I precut into a pile of pieces ready to pick up and place because they are all similiar sizes.

I agree with most of the others. Cut a big hunk and make sure it covers everything.

I save lots of small scraps, and I look through for one quite a bit bigger than my section, or I cut a new piece bigger - nothing scientific. It's a bother, but you can clip the threads and do it over if you have to. I seem to have to do that several times! I usually use copy paper for my patterns, and it holds up to one or two do-overs. My biggest problem is positioning; still working on that!

When I try to use up scraps, I lay the scrap over the drawn piece to see if it will fit.