Paper-piecing... Keeping edges of block on grain.
 

I am pretty experienced in paper piecing, had done Judy Niemeyer patterns and also PP many blocks of my Dear quilt.

One thing I have never been able to achieve is making sure that when piecing triangles whose outer edges are the outer edge of the block, to be on grain. I generally cut fabric in squares, retangles or strips based on the size of the piece I need and trim off when trimming up the block at the end. But when the fabric is folded back after it's sewn to the previous piece, the edge does not lie on grain... Does anyone have any suggestions for making the edges on grain.

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As long as you wait until you have sewn the blocks together before removing the paper, it shouldn't matter.

I always wait until I sew it together to remove the paper. The paper stabilizes it.

I thought one of the reasons pp was so popular was one could just "slap" a piece of fabric any which grain way because the paper stabilizes......

You can cut oversize templates of the units in the PP block. I am surprised that you posted you have done Judy Niemeyer and were not familiar with this technique. All of her patterns call for making an oversized template that matches the shape of the piece in her pattern. It simplifies the process of PP, conserves fabric and in some cases ensures the outer edge of the completed unit is on the grain. It would be very easy to do on your crossed canoe block.

Geri B, the popularity of PP is to achieve nice sharp points of odd angles that are not as easily done with more traditional piecing methods.

Doesn't matter about grain when paper piecing. All that matters is the fabric piece is large enough.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I did some playing around with scraps..Feline Fanatic, you really made me think about those JN templates. It took a couple tries, but I think I figured this out... about how to use the actual paper piece to make a template, and to determine the angle I needed to cut the fabric. I'm heading back upstairs to sew more scraps and see if my templates work... I think before I was cutting regular over-sized 45 degree triangles with this block and it didn't give me the on grain edges I wanted. I'll report back later with some pics.

So many of you say it doesn't really matter if the edges are on bias, but these are large 12.5" blocks and lots of edge to stretch out of shape, as the quilt is sewn together. I'll be back.

If/when I'm worried about bias, I starch the snot out of the fabric. Much easier than worrying about straight of grain, especially since with any triangle, you're going to be dealing with bias one way or another!

I am not worried about the sewing line because nearly every block as an angle or more. But in traditional quilt making, fabric is cut so, the edges of the block are on grain. I had not until I think today have figured out how to make those fabric templates and achieve the results I want. I still haven't been up to sew yet... again, I'll report back with pics.