Paper Piecing at It’s Best…..

Although it has been over 2 weeks since my last blog post, I promise that I have been spending a lot of time in my studio.  However, I am working on baby quilts for twin boys and I cant post about them until they are gifted.   SO…..wait for an upcoming post!!!

As I have mentioned here before, I am not a fan of paper piecing. So, when I found 8 super cute animal blocks to be used in these quilts, I knew that I had to get over my repulsion!!

The biggest problem is when I try to use chunks of fabric as I never get it big enough or in the correct orientation to actually flip back and cover the proper area. So, I decided to pre-cut the pieces beforehand, leaving about 1/2 inch around each side

The problem with this method is that I was going to have to draw the pattern twice…once on freeze paper that I would use to cut out the fabric shapes and then again onto the “Golden Threads” paper that I use for paper piecing. I spent a bit of time thinking of ways that I could get around this and decided to use my inkjet printer and print the patterns.

I started with a piece of freezer paper cut to about 9×12. I ironed a sheet of “Golden Threads” paper to the waxy side and then trimmed both down to letter  size. To make sure that the pages didn’t peel apart, I put a strip of tape across  the leading edge.

I ran it thru the copier two times, switching sides each time. The result was two perfect patterns…..

I cut the Golden Threads pattern into the sections needed for piecing and cut the freezer paper pattern into Individual pieces. These were ironed into the top side of the fabrics….

….and cut out leaving a 3/8ths to 1/2 inch seam allowance.

When they were all cut out, I reassembled the block…..

…and started piecing.

  It was SO much easier to have the fabric already cut to the correct shape and approximate size and I only had to un-sew a few times, and those were because I sewed the wrong sides together.

I found that I actually enjoyed doing the piecing and think that I will look forward to doing more in the future.