share on a blog or other website: highlight and right click the above link, then copy and paste it onto your blog or website in this tutorial, i'll demonstrate how to achieve perfect points by machine stitching your fabric directly onto paper. This is commonly known as paper piecing, or foundation paper piecing, or around here, it's affectionately known as fpp. Points that might be difficult to achieve with regular piecing can be a breeze when using fpp. the paper the main concept behind fpp is to use a paper foundation to stitch your fabric block. After all of the blocks are completed and stitched together, you rip the paper off of the back. The paper you choose will make a difference on whether you enjoy this technique or not.

You can use copy machine paper, vellum, newspaper print, tracing paper, wash away paper, or freezer paper. Pretty much any paper can work, however those that can be run through a copy machine are best. Today i'll demonstrate some of the differences so you can decide for yourself which one you might prefer.

In this video, i'll show you four different foundation papers: carol doak, vellum, copy machine/printer paper,stitch 'n wash dissolvable foundation paper. A couple of thoughts about those: if you are only making one block, like our free bib pattern. Be sure to use a ruler to ensure your lines are straight though, because you will be stitching right on the line. I like golden threads tracing paper because it rips out very easily, but it doesn't feed through a printer, so i only use it when i have very little tracing to do. Some quilters love freezer paper, because you can press that first piece directly onto the pattern.

Caution: it's a heavier paper and can be more stubborn to rip off the back when you're done. And if you use the grocery store product, you won't be able to run it through your printer. In week 3, i'll show you a different foundation piecing technique that uses freezer paper without stitching through the paper.

stitch length and needles: the more you perforate the foundation paper, the easier it will be to rip out later. You can accomplish this with a larger sewing machine needle 90/14 is ideal, and you'll be shortening the stitch length on your sewing machine. Here's a visual for you the bottom stitching is the default on my machine and the top one is after i've shortened the stitch length. now it's time to stitch. i've filmed a fairly long video 14 minutes to best demonstrate this fun technique. Mat, foundation paper, your printed foundation pattern i demonstrate using our bib pattern , and most important of all add a quarter ruler i use the 6 version , and a subscription card from your favorite magazine yes!. Oh yes, and if you make mistakes i never do, haha , you'll need tape scotch magic transparent tape is best.

when to rip: the bib i demonstrated is all one block, so when you've finished covering each numbered section, you're done with the paper piecing part. But if you are making many blocks that will be pieced together, do not remove the paper until all of your blocks are completed and pieced together. how to trim: during the video, i mention the seam allowance trimming is not super fussy, as long as you have pretty close to 1/4. however, this does not apply to the outside edge of your block. in the photos below, i'll use the small blocks from my earlier paper ripping demo to show you the finishing cuts. Because your blocks will be pieced to other blocks, the raw edges of those blocks must match, or you'll have a mess, just like in normal piecing. And because the paper is still attached to the block, you have no ease or stretch to the block when stitching blocks together. The add a quarter ruler isn't as effective because there is no edge for it to butt up against.

Use the solid line that represents the finished edge of the block, extend the ruler 1/4 past that solid edge, and cut. caution i can't count how many times i've mistakenly cut on the solid line don't repeat my mistake! so i'll repeat the solid line is your finished edge you must add 1/4 to this line before cutting. I hope you'll give paper piecing a try! machine paper piecing 133 133 my way i have written a book, painless paper piecing that has many more of my paper piecing tips and innovations including how to reuse your paper pattern. Read about it on my painless paper piecing webpage. the biggest challenge faced by machine paper piecers is how to make sure that fabric cut for a patch will fit the patch before a seam is sewn.

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Most paper piecing processes published in books and taught to beginners call for the quilter to pin the seam line, fold the fabric back on the line and then hold the unit up to the light to see if the fabric covers the intended patch. My technique insures proper coverage at the sewing table without this pinning and folding. In these instructions we will be working with a paper piecing unit c that is made up of 4 pieces.

One that was created by needle piercing all lines with your sewing machine, then you may move on to step 1. If your pattern is not needle pierced, before starting to work with the fabrics for the block fold the pattern back on all sewing lines and then flatten the pattern again. Position the paper piecing over the fabric such that the fabric extends at least 1/4 beyond all c1 lines on all sides. Baste the fabric and paper piecing pattern together through the middle of patch c1 as shown by a dashed line in the diagram. This better stabilizes the patch for the next step than a simple pinning would do. Fold the paper piecing pattern back along the next sewing line, in this example the line between patch c1 and c2. Today i received my copy of english paper piecing by machine by julie higgins.

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I bought it from an amazon.com i have no idea why this book is selling for up to $170.00! i was fortunate enough to buy a new copy for less than $10.00! anyway, given my new obsession with hexies, i could not wait to get this book. Like me, although this author liked to english paper piece by hand, she wondered if it could be done by machine. I really like the projects shown in this book and i went to work right away to see if i could do it.

She happens to whipstitch the pieces together with right sides facing, just as you'd do it by hand, except she does it on her machine. I didn't like the way mine looked because with this method the thread was very visible. I tried it with monofilament thread but because i had to remove the piece from the machine after sewing each joining seam, the monofilament unraveled. In the end, i decided to assemble the flowers my own way, which is not covered in the book, by butting the pieces together and sewing them flat with a narrow width 2.5 to 3.0 zig zag stitch with a length of 1.4. I prefer to sew them with right sides facing up so that the monofilament is coming off of the spool and the regular cotton thread is in the bobbin. This produces the result in picture 4 and in the flower on the right hand side in the examples below.

The result was just satisfactory but i did enjoy the speed by which i could put a flower together about 20 minutes. I think the book is very inspirational and the projects are certainly do able with this method. Sign up for our weekly emails thank you for signing up! please add connectingthreads.com to your address book list to ensure that you receive our newsletter.