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.

Thank you. I think that after I’ve done several, I’ll have a pretty good idea what size to cut the strips and then the triangles.

I agree that I don’t want the blocks to be too large. For a king sized quilt, I don’t think 8x8 is too large, do you? You all have much more experience than I do, so if you think that would mean the design would be lost, please let me know!

When I made my storm at sea quilt I used the Deb Tucker square in a square and diamond rects rulers. My points came out perfect on every block which is unusual for me. I prefer not to paper piece if I have a choice but that is just me. The secret was slightly oversized units that can be trimmed to the perfect size.

Good luck, it's a beautiful pattern.

Ok, I see now that I am maybe not using the correct sizes. Because the SAS can be made into many different configurations, I’m referring to the individual squares as 4x4 and 8x8. In this example that you linked, it shows a 12x12 block made up of 3x3 and 6x6 squares.

Maybe I’ll make up some blocks with some scrap material and see if I like the size

I agree. I have done numerous paper-piecing projects (nothing this large). This pattern requires accuracy both when paper piecing and when sewing the units together. A pillow top would give you a way to practice and refine your skills before tackling your project.

I have the die for the SAS . It makes a nine inch finished block.
https://www.accuquilt.com/go-storm-at-sea-die.html The quilt pictures of the finished quilts look great with that size block.

I was going to suggest this too. I haven't made one yet, but this quilt is definitely on my bucket list and I've been thinking about how I want to do it for a while now. I bought an English paper piecing kit to make it with, and then decided I wasn't crazy enough to tackle all of those sometimes teeny-tiny triangles by hand (over 1,400 pieces in the kit! https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/eek.png ). Foundation paper piecing is just not my thing, so I pretty much landed on doing it with the Deb Tucker rulers, especially because making blocks a bit bigger and cutting them down is pretty much how I work anyway.

However you decide to do it, it is a beautiful quilt!

I pp'd a king size hunter star quilt last year. It really wasn't horrible. I did end up initially mis-calculating my fabric needs and had to purchase more of the fabric but, oh well. I was able to simply over-size my cut pieces (triangles/rectangles) and had very little waste/block. The waste was not what caused my mis-calculations. I 'designed' the blocks/quilt in EQ5 and just didn't believe I would really need that much fabric. I find EQ - v5 in particular - tends to over-estimate yardage because of how it calculates the fabric cutting.

And granted, the quilt was heavy but just because of it's overall size and the fact that I used W&N cotton batting. I did quilt it on my DSM. Lots of pulling/pushing and a bit of tendonitis as a result but mainly because I was in a rush to get it done.

I PP some blocks from Carol Doaks "50 State Stars" without wasting a lot of material. For each block I measured each piece then cut the fabric for each piece 1/2" bigger all the way around. Made sure that each piece was placed right before sewing, so did not have all that much waste.

No, you're not crazy, I designed my "kimono" quilt, 8" squares, pp, it turned out great, unfortunately my Japanese friend that I gave it to, died soon afterwards, but her brother and family, took it back to Japan with them.

This stuff is awesome. I highly recommend it also. It would be perfect for a king size, elimination all that tearing and reinforcing it. I sewed along with the 50 Paper pieced stars back when a group here was sewing. It ended up being a queen size with almost full drop. So king size in all. It was scrappy so I could add needed fabric colors as I ran out.

I have EQ and can help you. The only problem is, the big square, at 8x8, will print outside your printer margins because that section will finish at 8.5 x 8.5. You'll have to tape the sheets together, or maybe take the file to a copy shop and have them print it on 11x17?

Here's a pdf of the block. Hope this helps. :)

Thank you so much for this!

I’m still undecided about what I will ultimately do - paper piecing or traditional piecing; smaller size or larger size; something completely different?

I really appreciate your help!

This is an interesting page showing a lot of ways to color and mix the SAS to make some interesting patterns. There are so many interesting variations of the SAS block and quilts, that I would have a very hard time choosing which one to make. I look forward to seeing yours.

Storm at Sea Quilt Pattern / Free Quilt Block Patterns (generations-quilt-patterns.com)