English Paper Piecing Part 1

Last Spring, I had my first adventures with English paper piecing (EPP).    This is a form of hand quilting that dates back to the 1700's and involves using paper (or template plastic) pieces to create intricate shapes that are joined together. Small pieces of fabric in various shapes are basted or glued around the templates and then the pieces are joined with hand stitching.  Usually the paper templates are removed (and even re-used especially during austere times) although some old quilts have been dated owing to the newspaper or other printed material inside.  Hexagaons (or hexies) are one of the most common shapes in EPP so I started with those.  First, I made a notebook cover with somewhat larger hexagons.  Later, I boldly moved on to smaller hexagons to make a needle case.  

Apparently my adventures with EPP weren't over because I recently got the urge to make a lap quilt with a more ambitious design that involves 4 point stars and octagons.  I was able to enlist the help of my Scan N Cut machine to cut most of the templates and fabric pieces but it was still a days long process.  

I don't have many photos of the early phases of this project, but I was challenged by not having a Design Board or Wall to lay out and arrange the pieces, so my next task involved repurposing a large piece of insulation board I had for felting by covering it with a flannel backed tablecloth.  It was BARELY large enough for the design.  After laying out my design I discarded a few colors I had selected for the 4 point stars, arranged them in what I thought was a pleasing arrangement.  I was worried as I transferred pieces from the board to my work area to assemble the stars that I would lose track of the color arrangement, so I took photos to guide my work.  

Once I had assembled 49 stars from 196 pieces of colorful fabric and was beginning the process of joining stars and hexagons, I discovered that I could label each star with the row and position number written on the back of the top of the star, so I could more easily assemble the pieces as planned.  This was a great discovery because it renders my project much more portable and now I can work on it away from my design board.  

As the project proceeds, I hope to share more of my insights and photos of the process. In the meantime, I have learned several things that have helped me:

The "Knicker Knot" was a game changer.  Thank you Sue Daley and Missouri Star for posting this great video.  I LOVE this knot for EPP.  

I'm undecided about using Templar templates vs paper templates.  It seems harder to stitch the pieces together that have the plastic in them.  (I ran out of Templar sheets so I had to resort to cutting some paper templates for this project).  

Good needles and thread are essential for this technique.  Fortunately I found a tip about always threading your needle from the thread end that comes off he spool first. That has greatly reduced tangles.  Why did I not know that sooner???  I am using Thread Heaven to condition the Aurifil 50 weight cotton. So far my favorite needle is a size 9 Milliner's by Bohin.  

More to come