paper piecing
 

Hi Quilters.............I have just started to learn to paper piece. I thoroughly enjoy the look of the finished product. Here is my problem. How to gauge the size of the piece you need and how not to waste so much fabric. There must be some tricks to this otherwise it's too expensive...

I still strugle with that too. One thing I do is collect scraps and use those. Also I put the piece behind it to make sure it fits. If you sew it down and it is too short just add another piece to it. It will look OK. It is paper piecing after all.

First thing I was told when learning to paper piece is that there is fabric waste. It's always best to have a bigger piece then you think you need. It takes too much time to measure each piece so I eye ball on the large size.

This is the best reference tool for paper piecing I've ever used. It shows you how to make the fabric always fit no matter how crazy the angle is.

http://quiltwithmarcibaker.com/produ...ng-references/

The best way I could figure is to cut your piece a little big. Now fold under what would be your seam allowance. Position the piece where it belongs matching the fold to the stitching line and carefully fold it back leaving the seam allowance in place now you can sew it down and hope it fits. Good luck.

Visit & spend some time on the Carol Doak website. She has great tutorials, feed blocks to help you learn, great tips for cutting and placing your fabrics. She is kind of a pioneer in paperpiecing and a great ( go to) resource

If you are making multiples of the same block (ala Judy Niemeyer), you can get plastic template material and make templates of the different pieces that you will need with the needed extra seam allowance (and I do more than 1/4 inch just to be safe). She usually tries to have the pieces cut using strip piecing (i.e. with two parallel straight lines a certain distance apart).

If you are making many different blocks, it can be a bit more challenging. I do try to hold it up to a light to make sure all the parts are covered and then carefully fold it back. Sometimes I will pin on the seam and with the seam and fold it back before sewing to make sure it will be covered too!

Cutting BIG is better in paper piecing. You will waste a lot, but it is very nice, and you can use some of the cut-off pieces as a smaller piece. Love to pp!

You can trace onto paper the finished shape add 1/4" all round then cut that new shape out and put onto fabric, watch you don't reverse and cut out. This saves some waste and you can use fabric direction.
hope this makes sense. It does take longer but very useful with long points.

It is just something you have to learn to live with because if you cut it too short, it is very difficult to remove the stitches being that they are so tiny (enable the easy removal of the paper). I would rather have too much fabric than be short.