I learned Paper piecing from Sharon Schamber. What a treat!
I was slow and had to rip out several of my piecings in the beginning....actually Sharon went around the room as everyone was piecing and she did all of the ripping out for the students.
She said she was the Queen of ripping and I believe her, she uses a rotary cutter! You have to be skilled at that...I would cut my fingers off or rip my fabric....enough to say, ripping out is part of the learning process. I did learn that the add a quarter is the most useful tool for PP. Sharon also uses a paint paddle to hold down seams and to "press" the seams as she goes.It is about four inches across with a short handle. All hardware stores have them..not expensive. Give PP another try. Once you get in the routine, it is simple. The instructor for your class should have realized that if people are busy ripping out seams, they cannot pay attention or stay up with the sewing. That is why Sharon went around the room doing that job for us. Start with a potholder pattern and keep PP. You will love your end result. D in TX

Boy! Do I agree!!! Have tried all the methods, I think, and the CD method is the greatest!!!!

I also agree. best method !

I have never used the freezer paper method, really don't know anything about it, I use the 'old method'. Anyway it was real confusing at first but finally caught on. I do remember sewing a block that had about 41 pieces and the second to the last piece I cut the seam right on the sewing line - I was not a happy camper. But I do love PP now.

Thanks for this info. I have joined this group and wanting to learn to pp. I had already bought some of her paper.

I see Carol Doak was mentioned a few times. On her site there is a free pattern for beginners. I just took a class using her method/pattern and really enjoyed it. I do agree you need some amount of concentration at least at first, but I did notice, like anything else, the more I did the easier it was. Never tried the freezer paper method.

Yep... I took a PP class, too. Didn't get it!! So I found a tutorial with Google (there are several to choose from) and sat my husband and laptop down next to me at my machine. Then step by step we went through it. Fantastic! Now I PP with confidence and love it! Have even taught my doll club how to do it - we all love small doll size quilts - and it's created more excitement about little quilts. Google, thank you!

You can go to Marcia Hohn site www.quilterscache.com
She has tons of patterns for paper piecing and also a
Practice paper piecing page. It sure makes it easy to do
this type of quilting. Never took a class, just went to her
site and followed the instructions. It also helps if you have one of those "add 1/4" rulers". At the top of her page she also lists different size blocks you can use for these quilts. Good luck in your future work with paper piecing. Betty Lee

dixiebelle, my sis calls me Scarlett because I'm such an optimist! Tomorrow is always another day!

Forgot to mention I never use freezer paper for this, just
make copies on my computer using regular computer paper. Have not had any problem removing the paper from the back of
my material. The first time I purchased the regular paper
piecing packages at the fabric store, but now I just use computer paper. Marcia Hohn's has easy to follow instructions and would recommend these to any one. Betty Lee