Paper Piecing - by Hand ?????
 

I am going to be travelling over the summer and have fallen in love with a small pineapple quilt that has sixteen pineapple blocks in it. I will not be able to take even a small sewing machine because we will be travelling in our camper and it is pretty small. I have purchased some water soluable paper to put my blocks on but am wondering about doing all the sewing by hand. I have never hand pieced a block so this will be a first for me. I know ... nothing like starting out small ... lol

Has anyone done this? Any suggestions?

From http://www.quilt.com/HowTo/FoundationHowToPage.html: "For hand piecing, foundations must be transferred to a cloth backing such as
muslin. There are several sources for foundation paper blocks. They may be
purchased already printed, they may be photocopied from several books currently
available on foundation paper piecing, or they can be drawn by hand or by using
a computer drawing program. For foundation piecing by hand, the pattern must be
transferred to the backing fabric. Muslin with freezer paper ironed on to the
back can be fed through many computer printers. The quilter is advised to check
his/her printer manual to see if this option is possible."

Hemlock Tea, thank you for the link.

I wonder why it would matter ... it must be because of the small pieces. I would think it would turn out like any other hand piecing project once the wash-out paper was gone.

I guess I will be getting out the muslin and freezer paper - maybe I will try it both ways to see whether they would both work out fine.

An adventure in quilting -- in more ways than one.

A camper too small for a portable machine? Mine would be riding in my lap. LOL.

Why not try a block with the water soluble paper, it may be sturdy enough. I would think regular paper would get distorted/ possibly tear from the handling (at least if you hand piece anything like I do lol).

When you paper piece, the stitches have to be smaller or the seam will distort/pull apart when you take out the paper. Doing it by hand with paper may not give the pieces enough strength if you use regular paper. Using water soluble materials, it shouldn't matter because you won't be tugging on any seams. I'd say try it. If it works, go for it.

There is always room somewhere for a featherweight in a camper - if not then - take out the stove!!!! Or wear the same clothes everyday - (ha ha)

Maybe consider using the pre-printed muslin foundations, that way you do not have to take them out.

This explains why paper foundations are not the greatest idea. Madquilter - you do give helpful info

I see no reason why fabric (or pellon or used dryer sheets - yes, I know some have a concern about using dryer sheets) would not work for foundation piecing by hand.

Agree with above on all counts.

I would think soluble paper would work. I can see where the stitch wouldn't be strong enough for tearing.

I hand pieced a Mariner Compass, which is usually done by paper piecing
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...s-t159809.html

I copied the design on freezer paper, (maybe you could print out multiple copies on the freezer paper) and the cut out all the pieces. I iron them on to the wrong side of my fabric and cut my fabric out leaving a generous 1/4 " seam allowance. I then basted around all my pieces like you would for English paper piecing and them whip stitched the pieces together. (the flying geese in my design were fun :p).
It was a bit fiddly, especially the preperation but I love the way it turn out.

if its water soluble watch out for humidity+spills

You can do it on a lightweight nonfusible interfacing that will stay in the block. The Peace Quilt with cranes can be done by hand this way. The design is transferred to the interfacing like you would do for fabric and then piece away. (http://www.margaretrolfe.com/details.cfm?ID=7)

I am using paper since I have a machine, but the hand instructions are included with the pattern and are as simple as I wrote above.

I would go for it. I hand pieced a whole ocean wave quilt once. Loved just having to stitch on the line. Only supplies I needed to take with me were needle, thread, two pins, and scissors and of course the marked pieces.

IMHO I think that it would be hard to hold the fabric still on the paper while trying to hand piece. I also think it would make your hand tire more quickly.

Suzy