bee3

Hi, I have a quilt block that is paper pieced, and the template is printed out onto copy paper. Is it okay to
sew through copy paper ? or do I transfer it to freezer paper somehow? or is there away to eliminate the
paper altogether ?
thanks for your help!

Bee

eparys

I do that all the time - Copy paper just is fine. If it is a purchased pattern, you might want to copy it first so that if a mistake (not that we ever do - lol) is made and you need to, you can restart it. Just shorten up your stitch length. When you go to remove the paper, if you moisten a Qtip and run the damp Qtip down the stitch line on the paper side it will soften the paper fiber under the stitches and the pieces will be very easy to remove.

wanda lou

I just use copy paper as well, but I had no idea about the damp Q tip.... wow just tried it and WOW... thanks so much for sharing.

eparys

wanda lou - I was struggling with really small pieces one day and came up with it. Works fantastically with Copy paper.

PaperPrincess

You can also shorten your stitch length a bit. More stitches per inch means more little holes and easier tearing. If your pattern has lots of small pieces, a short stitch length will hold them in place better.

Basketman

I have used the Q-tip method and have also used a tracing wheel to perforate the pattern prior to stitching and that helps with folding and ultimately removing the paper that has been sewn with a shorter stitch length. However, If you take freezer paper and carefully iron it to copy paper and trim it precisely, you can then transfer the pattern by copying it to the freezer paper ( obviously you then peal away the copy paper) and use the flip and sew method. This way you can use this pattern many times because you have not sewn through the pattern and this method allows you to simply peal away the freezer paper from the finished block.

QuiltnNan

i use the fold back method for paper piecing, which allows me to use the same template over and over. also, there are no little pieces of paper to pick out. here's a tut, but not the best one... i can't find the one i learned from
http://www.karencombs.com/pplesson.htm

Onebyone

I use lightweight vellum for paperpiecing. My printer loves it, it's strong but pulls away without leaving all the tiny pieces. It's the best I've used and I've tried all types of paper.

bee3

thanks for all the tips ! will try your q tip trick Betty, thank you, and will check out the tutorial on sewing outside of the paper. Im not even sure what vellum is but I don't really want to buy anything.
One other thought I had about sewing through paper is does it dull the needles quickly?

Sneed

Some have the "ready to sew" copy included in the pattern. Others tell you to copy or trace it onto the paper of your choice. Regardless, I always trace or copy the pattern just to have a spare in case of mistakes or, also in case you may want to make that pattern again. I use tracing paper. The "Little Bits" patterns come two to a package and are on tissue paper that you can sew on directly. The Niemeyer and deJong and other more involved patterns need to be copied.