Having worked for a dr. for years I found that table paper from Dr. office made great paper piecing.
Also I have used old patterns.
Sal

I'm in the South and use tracing paper found in a tablet in the art section at the craft stores or at Dollar General Store. trim it to 8 1/2 x 11 inches in size and print on my computer. It work well. Everyone that has sent tips thanks. I've learned a lot this morning.

I have learned tons about this question on paper, thanks again EVERYONE, this is the best board for information.............

I use pads of paper I get at the Dollar Store. 70 sheets for $1.00. The pad is 9 x 12. It has Scribble Pad on the front. The paper looks like a good grade of newsprint and it tears off easily.

It is great to use under appliques also.

I made a couple of quilts for the Grandma's flower garden. I saved inserts from the ads that we tear out of the magazines that come. When I thought I had enough then I cut out the shape that I needed. That paper is a little bit stronger than regular copy paper and I pull them out and throw them away.

Thank you SOOO much. I had earlier posted that I used computer paper, and spritzed it with water to remove. However, I still could never get it all. With the dollar store scribbler pad and pulling the paper off the paper pieced square dry, I had no problem whatsoever. And the dollar store scribbler paper printed perfectly on the computer, and with it being 9 x 12 I could easily trim it to fit in the computer.

Thanks a bunch!!!!!

When I used the ad inserts in our magazine and newspapers, all I had to do when I was ready to take it out of the sewed piece was poke a little hole in the center, grab it with tweezers and pull it out. I've even saved the ones I pulled out and will use them again.

I talked my doctor into letting me purchase a roll of the paper he uses on the patient tables. It works better than anything else I have ever tried. The only disadvantage is that I manually trace the pattern.

well for me there are four important ingredients to paper piecing.
1- inexpensive paper
2- tears off easily when done
3- very transparent
4- hold up while doing it

I have a roll of pattern tracing paper that I bought from a Clotilde catalog several years back. Don't remember what I paid for it, but haven't used even half yet.
I also use the scribble pads, that kids doodle on, and I have some tissue ppr for wrapping that I am going to try. I don't know how well it will hold up during use, but I think it might work well, and I got 50 sheets for 1.99.
I also 'score' my small stitch seam lines, with the back side of my seam ripper, before tearing off paper. Works great. :D

From reading the posts here, it seems like we have 2 different kinds of paoer piecing being discussed here, machine paper piecing and English or hand paper piecing. The one where you need the paper to tear off easily is the Machine one, and you can use stiffer paper for English or hand piecing, where you can slip the paper templates out and use them over. I'm wondering if we have some newer quilters that are confused by what is being said.

Great comment, Janice. I was wondering why anyone needed transparent paper for the English paper piecing method. If it is heavy enough it can be reused and it will allow you to keep a better shape for your quilting pieces, e.g., hexagons. Thanks.

I'm not a big fan of paper piecing since I hate the time spent tearing out the paper. But, when I have, I've used well aged newspaper, out of date phone books or the least expensive paper that will go through my printer.
Ellie

I am finally finishing a grandmothers Flower Garden....with the pieces 1 & 1/8th" finished.............started it in '86........put it away for a number of years, then got it out a couple of years ago......it's a good thing to "take with" ......it is now 70" x 90"....now I'm puzzling over a border for it............of course this is English paper piecing. Have no desire to bind it around all of those edges!

Jacque,

I have a picture of a GMG guilt that I took at a quilt show and it has a very nice border. It looks like you applique the edges of the hexagons to a white border and then the border has the "climbing" flowers made out of smaller hexagons. Hopefully I can get the picture to come into the Quilting Board.

Oops, the flowers are actually appliqued to a green fabric and then that fabric is attached to the border. Hope you like it. Sue

Thank you Sue, so much...............I like that idea very much..............of course it means many more hexagons to sew, but I've come this far.....might as well go the whole nine yard!
Thanks Again, Jacqué

Hi again, Jacque: My GFG has been "wip" since May of 2003, when my husband had open heart surgery. I put it away for several years and then got it out and have gradually worked on it over the past year. I take flowers wth me to doctor offices and on trips. I made the centers yellow, the next row in a solid, and the final row in print fabric using the 30s Reproduction fabric. I joined the flowers with a row of white; no green in the quilt, athough I do like the way the green sets it off. Glad the picture helped you.

I really like that photo of theGFG quilt.. I like the flowers appliqued to the green rather than having to do the green in hexagons too. That allows for the
sides of the quilt to be straight. And the smaller flowers on the green vine on the border is great. I want to do one like that. ....sorry about the abreviated reply above, but my cat got in the way and the message got sent too soon.:(

Sue, do you happen to remember how the quilt was quilted?........With my hexagons so small, there is no way I can even think about quilting around each. Perhaps around each flower...................
Jacqué

Jacque. Sorry to be late in answering your question. If my mind serves me correctly, I think they stitched around each hexagon; however, you do it so there is only one row where the flowers join. In other words, you would not have to go around each hexagon all the time. Are your finished hexagons 1-1/8 inches? My hexagons are 1 inch and I plan to do the stitching as I described above. It sounds overwhelming but then I have been working on it so long--what is another year or so :D .

I just use newspaper or pape from an old phone book.

you can use paper for your printer watch adds at your office supply stores get the cheeps they have you can get a lot more i use it all the time never used any thing else

I just picked up doodle pads from the dollar store today. Actually, I think these were to practice writing on, as they have the light blue dotted lines.