Simply Amazing Translucent Foundation Paper
RaNae Merrill Quilt Design
www.ranaemerrillquilts.com

my mom got rid of all her scrapbooking stuff & i got a ton of white vellum... that stuff works great...

not great enough that i'd pay what they get in scrapbooking departments, but if you find it cheap....

I love Caral Doak's paper. it goes thru the printer great and tears away very easily. use 40% coupon at Joann's.

If the pattern is too large to fit thru your printer, than you can use tracing paper. I've a large tablet of it: 19" X 24". It's called Parchment paper. It's thinner than newsprint and easy to trace from a book or printed pattern. It tears away easily too. If I have any trouble, using a tweezers, is the answer.

I like the thin cheaper paper. But I found out the Carol Doak paper did not work in my printer, the blocks were off from i/4 to 1/2 inch on 6 inch blocks. So check your blocks after you have printed them, I caught it after 1 1/2 blocks.

The best way to get any paper off of a paper pieced block is to sew with a small stitch. For some machines, that will be 1.5 and on the other kind, it is 8-10 stitches per inch. That is terrible if you make a mistake, but you will have no problem tearing it off, and it also makes the block less likely to unravel or have lose seams.

ever since i used parchment paper, i only use that. try it, you'll love it

I don't paper piece much, but one time I was doing someting very small and I could not get the paper out, even with tweezers. I found a water soluble paper that worked great, but was quiite expensive if I remember.

I have tried all types of paper and find that many are difficult to remove even when they are run through the sewing machine for the little holes. Finally, I spotted the cheap notebooks for children to practice writing. Sometimes they are called "doodle pads" by Crayola and I look for them in Walmart, Kmart or other similar places. These need to be cut down to the 8 1/2 x 11 size to go through the printer but work like a charm. I have never had the printer jam yet and since I use several of Carol Doak's CD programs, I can just adjust the pattern to the needed size. She also has many patterns for free on the internet. If I need many I stack the patterns up and run the machine without thread. I never get the stress on the seams when I remove the paper this way. This paper also folds well and I have now converted my paper piecing instructor to this method. (The problem comes when you convert too many friends and then you find yourself not getting enough paper yourself.)

Up north gave me some patterns for paper piecing, but I have not been brave enough to try yet. :D . God bless.

For my PP lap quilt I used used fabric sheets and you can just leave them in so there is no removing them. I traced each one then (this was before I had printer or computer) but since reading the needle with no thread way I am going to see if that works.

Cherokeequilter, you and I have discovered the same papers! And I found that if you buy the big art pads, you can cut four out of one sheet and that makes the papers waaaay cheap!

Thanks for the information. This is very helpful and I will pass it along to our guild members also.

I use the everyday printer paper.and have had no trouble..

so far !!!

I do intend the next time to try what I recently read...spray the paper with water before detaching ..

Has anyone used this spray method?

thanks.mj

I also use the Carol Doak foundation paper. It goes through
my printer and pulls out easily without ruining stitches.

go to www.youtube.com and click paper piecing you will come up with different demmo on how to and see what works best for you or at lest get an idea on how too

I use a number of different papers from tracing paper where I traced the pattern (didn't have a printer then) freezer paper cut to fit the printer. You iron 2 sheets shiny sides together and print on each side. and I have done the needle on the sewing machine trick too. I think almost any paper that will go through the printer will do. The next time I will probably just use the copy paper, it is cheap enough for me to use all the time as I do not do many these days. My stitches are tiny and it just pulls out easily.

The Dollar store sells decorative printer paper, with designs on it. It's pretty flimsy paper but goes through the printer just fine.

I love to paper piece. I'm hearing alot about using the cheapest paper or tracing paper. I know tracing paper does't go through my copier and I don't know about cheap tablet paper. Are you who use this paper hand tracing your patterns? I find the cost of PP-Paper is worth the time saved in not having to hand trace the number of pattern pieces needed to make a quilt.

Judith! where did you learn this method? need to know!

Me, too!

The cheap scribble tablet paper goes through my printer just fine. I just need to cut it down a little to fit.

Goes through my printer just fine also. I wouldn't want to hand draw...too time consuming!

I was just able to print out the patter for the DWR block and I am going to0 try it out using ordinary scribble note pad ans see 2 things--! -If I can do the pattern and 2-if the paper goes through the printer otherwise back to the printer paper I already have. Will let you know in a few days whgich I find the best for me.

I have learned both methods of paper piecing and when I don't want to sew on the paper I use parchment paper as it sticks to the material but can re-used many times. The trick is when you fold the paper back to line up the next piece of material sew right along the fold line not through the paper.

Good luck Annya!

Cherokeequilter, I should try tht method at least once just to see if I like it...always good to try new things!

Thank you all for the input. I've been using regular printer paper in a laser printer, but was afraid that I was doing something wrong. Guess not. The lightest weight paper I can find works well for me, and seems to come off just fine.

I just took a class and the teacher was using the Carol Doak paper which is the same as regular newsprint.

When I got home, I tried the template with tracing paper and it worked well because I can see the lines from the back side. Now the tracing paper most likely won't make it through the printer but I like drafting the pattern myself.

you can get newpaper paper at stores like staples you have to cut it to size but with rotary cutter and ruler that is not a issue. It is resasonable priced.