Sunday, April 3, 2011

My First Time...um, paper piecing


Victoria--thanks again for graciously opening up your home. It's like a support center for wayward quilters. Thank you for being so generous.

And also...thank you to the gang that stayed after for a bit and tried to teach me the finer "points" of paper piecing. I thought I should go home and experiment before I lost all the wisdom of your collective experience. I made two curved flying geese rows. I only made a few wrong moves but for the most part is was surprisingly simple. Not sure if I found my next big thing, but nice to know I don't have to be scared of paper piecing patterns. Only question is...how do I get the paper out????? Any suggestions?

Thanks Andrea for adding on to my blue quilt in such an amazing way. Thanks for all your helpful watch-outs when attempting paper piecing. Can't wait for next time!

6 comments:

  1. You Did it! You're a fast learner David! Glad to help... If you used a small stitch length, you can just tear the paper away easily... did you use phone book paper or heavier? if you used heavier remember the trick about moistening the paper with a mister.... comes away easily.... The more you play with paper piecing the easier it gets... ;-) what will become of these cuties?

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  2. Hey Victoria--I used paper from a cheap notebook. Really thin and it came off easily. I almost wanted it to support the weight of the fabric more when I was sewing. OK-so I made four of these units and they're going to be a boarder for one of the blocks on my scrap quilt I brought in Saturday. So, now it seems like I need another lesson in curved pieceing. I need to make each side a 15 x 4.5 inch rectangle. How do I do that with this curved piece?

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  3. Don't have any tips for curves, but I have had good luck using Newsprint (the unprinted kind that art students start out with) for machine paper piecing. Can draw lines on it and it tears away easily. A larger needle also helps. And I often give it a yank or a wigglel in several directions to free it up. And I don't worry about the tiny bits that remain. No one sees them anyway.

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  4. Congrats on the paper piecing. Can't wait to see those borders. Can I just say that your face in the picture on V's blog when I was showing and telling made may day! So glad to have added to your quilt. Hope you enjoy it!!!

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  5. Yippee...i too have overcome the paper piecing monster...and i have thanked you all...smiles.

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  6. Andrea--I showed the picture of the quilt to my partner and the second thing he noticed (after the beautiful work you did) was my face. He said you can't fake that kind of unexpected joy. When something makes you that happy-especially when it's a surprise is an emotion that is real and priceless. I LOVED it. Thank you again. I feel like we should work out shared visitation rights. Encyclopedia-post your paper piecing pics!

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