Is it crazy to do king-sized paper piecing?
 

Hi All! My plan is to make a king-sized quilt in 2021. I’ll be using batiks for the first time. Also, first king size quilt. I will be making a Storm at Sea. I don’t have a pattern. I found a picture and I figured I would just make the 8x8 and 8x4 and 4x 4 blocks on paper myself and do paper piecing for the first time.

But now I’m starting to doubt myself. It seems like paper piecing wastes a lot if fabric, and a king-sized quilt already uses tons of fabric. But I can’t seem to find a pattern online that uses larger sized blocks. They all seem to be small blocks. I want to do larger blocks to keep it proportional to the larger quilt.

Am I crazy to do this as a paper piecing project?

If you did it with the paperless method it wouldn’t be so bad. This video shows you how to do it. You don’t need the special presser foot that she shows.


https://youtu.be/LVVtIAuxtoU

For that many blocks do yourself a favor and buy the printable paper that dissolves in water or that you leave in. My favorite is Stable Stuff by Ricky Tims.

There are certain things I would only paper piece, but I have been pretty horrified at how much fabric is wasted. Not just a little...a lot. Additionally, a king size quilt with so many seams is going to be very heavy.

Thanks for all of your responses.

I don’t have my heart set on doing it with paper piecing. I’d probably PREFER to do it traditional method. But I can’t seem to find instructions for cutting SAS the traditional method in large enough blocks.

Paper piecing only wastes a lot of fabric if you let it. A SAS would be very easy to be *not* wasteful because all of the pieces are symmetrical. You can pre-cut them to be a little larger than you need, then trim them down once you get each seam sewn. You might ask, why bother with paper piecing them then? Because paper piecing will give you very accurate seams.

What size blocks were you thinking of making?

How about making a pillow top - 20x20 or so -: to get a feel for it before committing to a king size too?

Yes, that is exactly what I ask myself - why do paper piecing if I’m going to pre-cut everything? Thank you for reminding me that the whole reason I’m interested in paper piecing is the accurate seams and triangles that are not cut off!

I’m planning on doing 8x8, 8x4, and 4x4 squares and rectangles.

In the Quilt Chace there is a 12" SAS pattern https://www.quilterscache.com/S/StormAtSeaBlock.html. I don't know what size you are planning but it may be easier to have someone figure out the size you want in EQ8. I understand it is the best way to go and get the PP diagrams. I don't have EQ8 myself.

Exactly! You can paper piece with very little waste. I've made several king size paper pieced quilts and find them no heavier than any other quilt with similar size pieces.

I understand your desire to use larger blocks. However don't make them so large that the design of SAS is lost.