1. Starch your fabric before doing your piecing that way it has some stability when you tear it off the paper
2. Use a size 90 needle
3. The Satin Stich foot is the best one to use for paper piecing
if u do not have one then make sure it is an open toe
4. Stich size is 1.75 tight but not to tight if u need rip out
5. You can chain piece all your pattern pieces when doing your #1 and #2 fabrics
saves u time and all done at the same time
when you do the other pieces u can butt up and keeping sewing
6. if u have a sharp point before u get to the sharp pt sew one stich line in and your pt will be perfect
7. if u need to rip out a piece use scotch tape on the pattern size and rip out fabric from one side this way you do not rip your pattern apart and can reuse
8. when pinning your block together use extra fine pins
9. Use the 4 "p" method position, pinch to get your seams together, peek and pin
10. Baste your block before u sew together. How u do this is use a big stich and do a feww stiches skip a area and sew again check that seams match and then go back and sew with regular stitch
11. open seaqms to help your pattern lay flat


These are a few tips I have learned over the times from friends and experience. You are welcome to add more tips u want to
share
lets' have fun paper piecing
:-D :-D :D :D

Thank you for the good tips! I'll bookmark this as I do enjoy PP!

Thanks!!!

:thumbup:

No need to starch, a size 70 microtex needle,(much finer than a 90) 60wt thread, newsprint paper, 1.5 stitch, scotch magic tape for fixing rip outs, 1/8" seams, stitch PAST the end line to help lock in the next line even on the outside lines!
Leave the paper ON when joining the blocks, or stay stitch the outside lines before taking it off! This helps the block retain its shape!
The Add-a-quarter rulers will save you time, money and frustration!
A mini iron is your best friend!
And a mini rotary cutter is not a bad thing either!

when dealing with Miniature work use a foundation like muslin or fun-da-tion interfacing and leave it in! I always use this for ornaments and decor items as it acts like a stabilizer as well!

Wonderful tips! I recently discovered that coffee filters work great for paper piecing/tears away wonderfully and easy to see through.

A couple of you mentioned Scotch tape. Scotch makes a REMOVABLE tape that I discoverd in classes with Carol Doak. What makes it great is that you can iron on it unlike the magic tape. It comes in blue packaging and the only place I have located it is in office supply stores like Stapes, Office Depot. In case some of uou are wondering about why we need tape, it is for when a mitake is made and the seam has to be taken apart. The tape holds the paper together abd you place it on the seam thT is going to be taken out.I also buy dozens of the mini seam rippers from www.tooltron.com. They are little surgical blades that make quick work of ripping out those tiny stitches. Ask me how I know all this! From lots of frog stitching!

Thanks. Bookmarked

Make a copy of your pattern - write your colors on that copy -- then make all the other copies you need so they are all marked with the proper colors. Makes it easier so you don't get confused as to what goes where.

Cut your pieces out BIGGER than you think you'll need them, especially when doing corners or angles.

Some suggested getting your paper damp to remove it -- I found it to be much harder to remove if it was damp...I like it better dry.

Do go past the edge of your sewing line...makes life easier as pointed out.

If you make templates, put all the pieces back into a baggie and paperclip/staple it to your master pattern so you have it on hand the next time.

Take a picture of each of the possible arrangements if you have sections to piece together (like 4 pieces to make a square) so you can see which way you like the colors better...you don't have to always do it like they show you in the directions.

Thanks for the tip. I think I will try to do paper piecing now.