Paper Piecing Paper Question
 

Does anyone use plain printer paper for paper piecing? Never tried this and would like to. Thank you.

Yes, I have. I print block patterns and sew them just fine. just use a small stitch. when you tear your paper off, put a finger (thumb maybe) onto the seam and tear. moving your finger hold along as you tear. it helps stabilize.

newsprint paper works the best. I did block that has 76 pieces and the printer paper did not work well changed to newsprint or foundation paper and it worked fine.

i use the printer paper, but found that a pale blue color works better than the white. i have to say, though, that i use the fold-back method of paper piecing.

I've used lots of regular printer paper and it works okay. I also did two string quilts on newspaper and I thought it was actually harder to tear off because it tore easier but didn't tear cleanly along the stitching lines. I just bought two boxes of Gilbert Paper onionskin. It's really sturdy but tears off really easy. I did have to hand draw my blocks on the onionskin because it wouldn't go thru my printer. But that's not hard to do with a ruler and a fine point sharpie.

I did ONCE only in a small demo on paper piecing. Then I went to 25% rag vellum as it is easier on my needles and tears so well. Though medical exam table paper also works well, I don't have that source anymore.

ali

For the quilt in my avatar, I used vellum paper. It went through the printer just fine and was easy to tear. Not particularly cheap, but it worked well.

That is the ONLY paper I use. . . 20 lb. bond that I get by the ream at Costco. It works fine for me as long as my stitch is tiny. Then I recycle all the pieces I tear off.

I was cleaning out my fabric, ongoing job, have two totes of scraps, I debated on bagging them up and giving away, then the thought came to me of the spiderweb quilt, it does not need to go through the printer, I do not think. Am going to try just doing one block and see what happens, hopefully tonight. Thanks for your thoughts on this, appreciate it.

I've used both copier paper (standard 20 lb) and Carol Doak's paper. Honestly, I liked the copier paper better. Maybe I shortened my stich length on the copier and not the other - can't say. But copier paper and short stitch length = no problems.