Paper Piecing

Note: You can click on images to see a larger view of them.
Corrections for Amanda Herrings Paper Pieced Flower Block (for the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild) are at the end of this post.

Most people either love it or hate it.   The obvious reason to love it is that it is a VERY accurate way to piece.  Particularly those blocks with very sharp points or a lot of small pieces.  And on the other side most people hate it because of the time it takes to rip out all the paper when you're finished.  That and having to rip out those tiny little stitches if you've made a mistake.  Then there are those who declare it wastes too much fabric.  

Hopefully you'll find through my simple guidelines, that all your negative feelings about paper piecing will go away.  I've virtually eliminated having to ever rip a seam out; there's hardly any wasted fabric and the paper comes out quickly and smoothly.

Let's start with using the right type of paper foundation.  I've purchased these two: Papers for Foundation Piecing by Martingale and Carol Doak's Foundation Paper.  I prefer the first; find it to be lighter weight.  And that's the key, a very light weight paper.  Regular copy paper is too heavy for easy tearing.  It also leaves behind paper fragments.  I've also used tracing paper when I've wanted to draw my own design.  Have not tried putting it through the copy machine.  Others I know like Velum or a very fine Pellon fabric.  The Pellon 830 Easy Pattern is designed for making patterns, but can be used for paper piecing.  It will go through an inkjet printer.  This material does NOT get removed from your block so will add weight to your quilt but you'll have no tearing out to do.

When making copies of paper piecing you want to make sure the copier hasn't distorted the size.  An easy way to test this is to draw a 1" square on your pattern.  Make a copy and then measure the square.  If the copied square is still 1" you're good to go.  If not, you might have to adjust your printer settings.  The image to the left is a pattern of Amanda Herring's and she's drawn in the 1" square for you.

Next thing that helps with quick paper removal is to use a small stitch.  The smaller the better.  On my computerized Pfaff, I drop down from a normal stitch length of 2.5  to a 1.  It's about 20 stitches to the inch.  Each machine will be different.  I know that ripping out that small of a stitch is a bear, but hopefully with the following instructions, you'll never have to rip out.  But if you do, you are better off pulling the fabrics away from each other and working your ripper in between the stitches rather than trying to rip out stitches the on either the fabric or paper side (Impossible to rip the stitches on the paper side without destroying the paper).

There are a few tools I like to use.   One is the "Add a Seam" ruler.   A normal ruler with  Quarter inch markings works just as well, but the "Add a Seam" has a raised quarter inch lip that butts up against the folded paper nicely.   Depending on where I'm working it's nice to have a roller presser to press your seams if an iron is too far away from your machine.  The other piece(s) of "equipment" I like are very thin card stock or business cards.  Makes folding your paper clean and simple.  I use the postcards that fall out of your quilt magazines and the fake credit cards you might get in the mail.  I have a card that Quilters Newsletter sent once that has backing measurements on the back.  Anything that is sturdy but thin will work.

Amanda Herring Flower Block

Cutting your pieces of fabric to the right size will eliminate a lot of waste.  I measure the sections and add a half inch to the width and length of the piece.  More recently I worked on a block from designer Amanda Herring called Flower Block.  Her pieces had the measurements written right on the pattern.  That was the first time I've come across this added bonus.   I found some of her measurements a bit big and others a bit too small, so I'd suggest if measurements are given to double check them.

Joan Leaky

Some patterns such as this one from Joan Leaky's Mariner's Compass have included the final 1/4" seam allowance around the outside edges. Amanda's pattern doesn't show this but it implies it when it says to cut along dotted line.  Other patterns will tell you to add a 1/4" around the outside edge of each section.  

The numbers on the printed pattern indicate the order in which you should add your fabric.  Amanda's pattern tells what colors go to which numbered pieces.    I like to color code my pieces.  This particular pattern called for various shades of turquoise.  So I colored a solid square in the #2 spot for the solid fabric I was using.  In the #3 spot I was using fabric with circles and the #4 spot were squares.  #1  and #5 were white, so I left them blank.  By using a colored pencil on each of your pieces you don't have to be checking back at your ledger to see which fabrics you assigned to which number.  One less chance of having to rip out the wrong fabric!  

For most of the rest of my instructions, I'll be using the Flower Block by Amanda Herring.  It was a free pattern I found on the Modern Quilt Guild's website.   

Now that we have our fabrics cut, our pattern pieces color coded it's time to start the actual sewing process!  You're going to be sewing along the line between section 1 and 2 to start.  You're sewing on the lines so the fabric will be under the paper.  I always place the paper with the section I'm adding away from me (or at the top).  In this case, its Section 2.  And it will be folded down towards me.  This is where those magazine postcards, or fake credit cards come into use.  Place a card on the line on top of Section 1.  Fold the paper (Section 2) over your card 

White Section 1 Fabric

and make a nice crease.  Leaving the paper folded, place the fabric for Section 1 under the paper so that a 1/4" shows above the fold.  The wrong side of the fabric is against the paper.  You can see through the paper to see that your fabric extends beyond the outline of Section 1.   Take the fabric for Section 2 and as with regular sewing, you'll place the right side against the right side of the first fabric or Section 1 fabric, matching the top edge of the  fabric. 
Again, look through the paper (you may want to hold it up to a light or window, so you can see if the fabric covers section 2 on the paper.  In this case the turquoise fabric (Section 2) extends farther to the right than the white fabric for Section 1.

 Turquoise Section 2 fabric

Begin & end 1/4" past line

REMEMBER to adjust you stitch length to 20/per inch.  Fold the paper back "up" and stitch on the line between Section 1 and 2.  Make sure you begin your stitching as least 1/4" before the line begins and end at least 1/4" past the line.  This will ensure your fabric will be enclosed in the cross seam.  Trim your threads and fold your fabric into position.  Press with a dry iron or use a roller to press the seam.  This will be the hardest seam to do; getting both fabrics in the correct position since neither has been sewn in yet.

Tear the paper to get your fold

Add-A-Quarter

 For Section 3, turn your paper so that  Section 3 at the top laying away from you.  Lay your card on the line between Section 1 and 3.  Fold just the paper down over the card.   You won't be able to fold the paper with out tearing it a bit where the end of the 1-2 seam is.   Once your  paper is folded along the line between Section 1 and 3, it's time to trim off the excess fabric from Section 1.  This is where the "Add-a-Quarter" ruler comes in handy.  The lip of the raised part snugs up against the paper and allows you to trim without the ruler slipping.  A regular ruler will work also.  Now you have a nice straight edge of fabric to line up your next piece of fabric.  (After making the first of this block, I found if I increased the with of the fabric, I had a big enough triangle of fabric left to use for another section #1).

Place fabric 3 rights sides to fabric 1, above the folded line.  Look through the paper again to make sure you have Section 3 covered with the 3rd fabric.  In the picture to the right, the arrows point to the edges of fabric 3 and how they extend beyond the shaded Section 3.  (For those of you who are very observant, you may notice this fabric 3 is different from other pictures posted.  I didn't have a good picture with the original fabric. Actually, the solid turquoise is also different.) 

Again, fold the paper back and sew on the line between 1 and 3 making sure you've extended your stitching beyond the line you're sewing.  Once sewn, fold fabric 3 up and press seam.   

Here's the part that makes paper piecing so great.  Getting that point were fabrics 2 and 3 meet.  Place your card on the line for adding fabric 4.  You'll have to tear away where the stitches cross from fabrics 2 and 3.  If you have made your stitches small enough, you'll get a clean tear without loosening your stitches.   Trim the fabric as you did before and line up the 4th fabric.   

Line up the fabric and check that it is covering the Section 4.  When  you sew across the line make sure you hit the spot where the two cross seams intersect.  When you press your fabric up you should have a perfect point.  To be honest, I had to take another stab at hitting that point exactly right.  Fortunately, I did not have to rip it out because I was short of the point rather than over the point.  

The final fabric to this piece is the background and crosses over Sections 1, 2 and 3.
My postcard wasn't long enough so I had to fold over part of the line and then move the card to complete the fold.   (A suggestion: at Home Shows, or fairs keep your eye out for vendors that have very thin plastic rulers with their logos on them.  They work great for this.)

Once you have your fold and your fabric trimmed, line up your last piece for Section 5.  This particular pattern had us cut the strip 2 1/2 X 8" and I felt it could have been 2 X 8 1/4".   It's a perfect example of doubling checking the measurements before cutting.  The arrow on the picture to the left show that the fabric barely covers the edge of Section 5.

Once that is sewn into place, press the piece with a dry iron.  It will look a bit strange until you trim it.    Flip the piece to the paper side.  On this pattern you're cutting on the outside lines (dotted lines).  Remember each pattern is different.  You may have to add a 1/4" seam to the outside line of someone else's pattern.
Once it's all trimmed, you have one unit complete.  Each of the next 5 units will be pieced in the same fashion.  Each will be the perfect size and will come together with ease.  

Here are a few pictures of the final units, paper side and fabric side. 

When your stitches are small the paper tears off cleanly.  You may have to use the point of your seam ripper to get the middle section started and to pick out any small pieces that get trapped in the pointy tip.  

On this pattern we were told to sew together two halves of the block first.  You'll notice I pressed the seams open where I joined each 3 unit piece into a half block.  I did this because I knew there there going to be a lot of seams converging in the middle and that the center would lay flatter if the seams were open.

When jointing the two halves together, I found the  spot where the points should meet and stuck a pin through it and the one on the opposite side.  

Sally Collins is a small scale quilter. In a class I took from her she said that once you have the "centering" pin through both pieces, use two other pins to pin the pieces together on either side of the "centering" pin.  Do not turn the "centering" pin to pin the pieces together.  If you do it will distort the line up of the fabrics.  You can read about it in her book "Mastering Precision Piecing" .  We belonged to the same guild for many years and I was fortunate to learn a great deal from her.

The block is now assembled and trimmed to 12 1/2".  It was nice of Amanda to have the background fabrics larger than necessary so that the block could be trimmed to size.

Another project I've been working on (for years) is a Hunter's Star quilt.  I took the original size and reduced it way down.  BIG mistake.  It's become my "retreat" block.  I take it every year and work on it until I get bored with it.  It's the same piece over and over.  Should never have made it so small!  You can see by the picture, how much I reduced the size.  My granddaughter helps me lay it out once in awhile so I can see how many more little triangles I need to make.

I hope you've learned a few new tricks that will help with your paper piecing.

I made another Mariner's compass for an example star block for a block exchange I jointed.  Here are some pictures of how that went together.  

Cut fabric Mariner's compass

Pieced Unit 1 of 8

  

Corrections for the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild May Block:

1.   Piece 1 and 5 are background (White), Pieces 2 and 3 will be the flower petals (two different of the same color) and color 4 is the center of the flower.

2.  Cutting corrections:

            a.   Background fabric:

• Cut 1 strip of 4” wide by WOF.  From that cut 5 81/4” pieces.  Use 4 of them for Unit A, C, D & F piece 5.
• Take the last one cut it in half lengthwise giving you 2 - 8 ¼ X 2” pieces. Use them for Unit B and E, piece 5.
• Cut 3 pieces 3 X 5”.  Use for Piece 1 on 3 units.   After sewing 3 of the units and have trimmed these 3 pieces, use the fabric for the remaining Piece 1s (on the next 3 units.  

            b.  Center Piece 4
                 These only need to be cut 2 1/2" X 2 3/4".

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