I finally did a search to try and find out what paper piecing is.... and now I'm even more confused. It looks incredibly complicate - whatever the technique really is - I couldn't figure it out!

If anyone would like to, please feel free to try to explain it to me in a nutshell. :shock:

Here is a link to a tutorial on paper piecing.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-102813-1.htm

the print side is up, on the pattern the fabric back is to the underside so when you turn it over the fabric right side is on the bottom of the paper. make sure you have the 1/4 inch over each line, easy to check with folding on the line your going to sew, sew line 1 to two and 2-3 and so forth, i went to caroldoak.com and learned and when i was stuck i went to my lqs for help.
hope i made sense
Sandra

I suggest do Google searches, go to youtube, just keep learning. Then find a nice simple star and try it! I love it but was afraid to try my first block. Warning: It makes a mess of little scraps and papers and strings, and more scraps. . . .

Ok, tell me seriously - is it really worth all the effort? Or is it really necessary to get some complicated patterns?

I love making Flying Geese with the paper piecing method. I also make more complicated designs. See my avatar. Your points are always prefect.

I think I'll have to find a youtube tute - I really need a visual on this!

Yes if you are wanting perfect points! It is messy and I have a lot of waste but it is worth it for the end product.

Here's a youtube tutorial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uaW26igygE

Some people love paper piecing, others detest it. It looks difficult but once you get the hang of it, it's not. It's definitely worth the effort on intricate blocks with a lot of tiny pieces.

I was afraid to paper piece at first and watched videos on you tube and fons and porter. Now I love it. I wish I could pp everything. Lol

I was totally intimidated by paperpiecing at first but now I love it. I had to take a class cause I'm a visual learner. I use the add-a-quarter ruler. If you can take a class, then do it.

Thank you Twisted! I just watched it - it makes a TON more sense now! Amazing technique.

So are there certain patterns that typically "require" it? Would you use it say, for a pinwheel, or just for more complicated patterns?

I wouldn't use it for something as simple as a pinwheel. Carol Doak has some great paper pieced patterns, here's a link to some free patterns on her website. http://www.caroldoak.com/free-quilt-patterns.php

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to create those blocks using traditional piecing.

Tina, I love PP. It makes perfect points!
If you ever want to do a Mariner's Compass or New York Beauty it would be perfect.
But it's good for many many patterns!

I'm a paper piecing addict....give it a try it is definitely worth it! Most either love it or hate it. It makes putting together very intricate blocks and odd shapes very easy and accurate! Good luck!

I love paper piecing. If you're working with tiny pieces of a block, it's soooooooo much easier and precise. Once you understand how to do it, it's really very easy.

You guys are an amazing source of info! Thanks so much - this REALLY helped!!!

I just finished a simple pp project which I absolutely adore! Yes, it's messy, but yes, it's precise. Carol Doak, and others have some very simple and well illustrated informational videos and literature with step by step instructions. Don't let your temporary insanity (confusion :lol: ) sway you from at least trying one simple block. You will become hooked as soon as the light bulb switches to 100 watts. :idea:

Oh yes, I have never purchased the expensive paper made specifically for pp-ing. I just go to a stationary store and pick up a ream of erasable typing paper for about $5.00. Sometimes you can find it at Walmart too.

I kinda like Carol Doake's Lace Star variation star, and the tulip-looking block that's next to the vest.

Now if someone could just give me TIME to try all the things I want to!!!! :lol:

I didn't think of using special paper - can you use this paper in a printer/copier?

Try this: No Tears Paper Piecing. This is the ONLY way I do my pp and I paper piece everything I can ( and a bit more!)

http://classicquilter.typepad.com/cl...r-piecing.html

Thanks - bookmarked that one too!

I pp 56 New York Beauty blocks for my quilt. It was the only way to do all those points.

Glad to see you have gotten some good advice and videos to watch. I was intimidated too, but after I got the hang of it, I love, love, love the accuracy of itty-bitty pieces and points. Do I use it all the time? Of course not! I would advise any quilter to learn how to paper piece. It is just one more great option for making wonderful things.

I learned most of the technique from youtube and i also got Carol Doaks book for paper piecing it is really fun and the seams come out beautiful.

I learned to paper piece using Carol Doak's technique. It has worked great for me. I enjoy paper piecing!

had trouble the 1st couple of times I tried it but once the light bulb clicked on, paper piecing became so enjoyable. try again now that you've watched a video or 2 - you'll come to enjoy it too.

Yes it is, it is amazing what blocks you can come up with - try taking out a book of paper piecing from your local library

It’s been 5 years since I did PP but I enjoyed it. It was a PP pineapple. It is not as complicated as it appears. I cut the pieces more than ¼” larger. I used an index card (the lines are ¼”) to trim the excess fabric because I didn’t know about the add ¼” ruler (great tool for PP!) I trimmed after sewing because that’s what the instructions I used said to do. I pieced the blocks together 1st and then removed the paper. I finished the entire top before removing the paper to keep the fabric from stretching. I learned here that many quilters remove the paper first. It makes blocks more accurate when piecing them together. The quilt was a queen size and that is a lot of paper to remove at one time.

I used a pre-drawn pattern but would use thin copier paper. There is super thin paper at Staples. I’ve never seen it with the reams of paper they sell but had color copies made and was shocked at how thin the paper was. This would be good paper for PP.

You can get some beautiful PP patterns for free on-line here is a link to one: http://www.yvonnes.dk/patterns.htm

I agree with Pieceful Quilter. Not something at least for me, to use all the time, but certainly has it's time and place. I looked at various tutorials online as well but the only way it made sense for me was to take a class. I'm currently planning another pp project. I don't bother with the add a quarter ruler. I have an 8 in. x 4 in. ruler that I just place 1/4 in past the line and trim with. No need for one more tool that has a very specific purpose. The biggest thing in my mind is pressing after every seam. I set up a small table to the side of my sm and have a small cutting mat as well as ironing surface so I'm not hopping up every 2 minutes. Works for me. Good luck.

Learn to paper piece, and your points will never be pointier!

At first, I taught myself, but then one of my good friends taught me and I am getting better at it. I really love to do it, but it is so different from traditional chain piecing you have to retrain your brain!

Every time I do paper piecing I have to go back to a tutorial and check again what goes which way up, and it often takes me a false start to get going on it again. That said, I love it - crisp, perfect points and there's something very satisfying about gradually adding the pieces to the block. And I LOVE taking off the papers! (some people are made happy by very small things :-)
My favourite tutorial isn't a video one, but I find it very clear:

http://www.winnowing.com/ppp.html

ok...forgive me for my confusion on this one....but I thought paper piecing was where you had a piece of a block that you stitched, usually by hand, the pattern to, folding over the seam allowance.(like hexagones for Grandmother's Flower Garden quilts) Then you stitched the pieces together, again usually by hand, to form the block. Or is this just "English paper piecing"? I though the type of piecing where you used the pattern all drawn out on the paper and stitched the fabric to the "wrong" side of the paper was called foundation piecing.

Maybe the terms are interchangeable?????

At the top of this page, there's a link for paper piecing basics...I read it and it looks like it might be a good one. Has anybody bought this and if so, was it a good teacher??? I'm trying to decide whether to buy that or Carol Doaks book, can anybody advise??? Thanks as always, Wendy

There are actually three different techniques that you have just described. Foundation piecing, English paper piecing and Paper piecing.

English Paper Piecing and 'regular' paper piecing are two different animals from what I've been told. I do believe that EPP is all handsewn but I won't swear to that. Only learned that much taking a serger class a couple of months ago.

So what is the difference in "English paper piecing" and plain ol' "paper piecing"?

If the difference is English paper piecing is done all by hand....and plain ol' paper piecing is done on the machine....then what is the difference between plain ol' paper piecing and foundation piecing???

don't mean to be a bother here...but I am really confused :shock: :shock:

OK, English paper piecing was described earlier, you baste pieces of fabric to a shape, like the Grandmother's flower garden quilt. Then with the paper (stiff like cardstock) still inside that perfect shape, you whip stitch them together. When all are stitched together and all of the shapes are perfect, you take out the basting stitches and the paper. Foundation piecing can take a few different forms. The ones that I have done most recently are slightly different. I am making the "Roll cotton Boll Roll" Christmas mystery from Bonnie hunter and one of the blocks used an 8 1/2 inch piece of paper as the base and then we sewed "strings" of fabric to the paper right sides together, flipped them out and kept doing that until the square was filled, on the diagonal. Then I flipped it over and squared it to 8 1/2 inches and then removed the paper from the back. The reason you use the paper is for a basic shape and for stability.
I also took a class from Edyta Sitar and her foundation papers are printed with 1/4 inch seam allowance, so you sew with the pattern and the fabric on the same side. You line up your piece of fabric, that is cut exactly to size with the seam allowance line and finger press it out as you go. This works especially well for pineapple blocks. It was so fun and oh so precise. This will also work for other paper piecing, but you have a lot of figuring to do before you start sewing. Without a visual, I guess it's hard to conceptualize.

Thank you for posting that video. Very interesting! I never would've guessed that's how you do it. I thought you had to make a bunch of copies, then cut out each piece separately with a quarter-inch seam allowance. Her method definitely saves paper!