I am going to try paper piecing too, for the first time. Right now I am going to use plain computer paper, but I have ordered some tracing paper that was on sale, hoping it will work in my printer. I have downloaded at least 5 tutorials and am still nervous. Also I ordered a Carol Doak CD, someone said she was really good.

If it is regular sized piecing, I just use regular copy paper with a stitch length of 1.5. If it is teeny weeny pieces like I did for a DQ, well, copy paper works, but I've decided to use a water-soluble or tracing paper. Some of those pieces were about 1/8 th of an inch!

Good luck

Don't be nervous! The worst you could do is screw it up. It's very easy. Start with a simpler pattern, not so many pieces and work your way up to more complicated ones if you feel you need to. When you do start a project, I'd suggest buying a little extra fabric, just in case.

I use velum paper...you can get it from paper supply stores. There is also a lady named RaNae Merrill who sells it online. I'll try to find it ...here you go:

http://www.softexpressions.com/softw...impleFound.php

She charges a bit more than you can get it at the paper supply store for. If you look in the Dear Jane Cyber Sew thread, there's lots of talk about paper, where it's cheapest, etc. Problem is the thread is over 160 pages long...lots of reading to find your info.

I've used copy paper, but I actually prefer the cheep ligned paper I used in school. It's ligher and cheeper but will still go through my printer with no problems.

I use copy paper because we have a copier at home, it's free and readily available. It can be a little hard to tear off and can distort the stitching sometimes. So, I can see why vellum would be used. With copy paper I've found that moistening the paper area that you're tearing off makes it much easier to remove and the stitching isn't distorted.

I'm almost done with a paper-pieced queen-size quilt and the paper I've used is by June Taylor (purchased from Joann's). I think the thickness of the paper will affect how often you'll need to change your needle. It may not bother some people.

The June Taylor paper held extremely well while I worked with it, and it tore off easily when the time came. Just remember to sew a little past your end-points, and to lower the stitch length.

It's easy, and I can't believe I hadn't tried it before. Now that I have, I'm thinking of working on a Mariner's Compass, next.

I started using vellum and it's the cream of paper for paper piecing. I have used Carol Doak's paper, newsprint, copy paper, writing paper, tracing paper, deli paper, Dr. office paper, and freezer paper. I won't use anything but vellum, because I'm worth it. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Me too!!! :thumbup:

I use the paper you get at the dollar store. Biggest requirement is to make sure your stitch length is very short or it will not tear away easily. Best of luck with your project.
Wendy