I love paper piecing. I love the crisp points and the amazing designs you can create that would be a nightmare with traditional piecing. I do not dig the ridiculous waste of fabric. This waste has put me off making a larger project using paper piecing.
I decided to take a Craftsy class on paper piecing to learn a few tricks. Just before Christmas their classes were on sale, so I figured it's my best time to try out my first one. I registered for Quick Strip Paper Piecing taught by Peggy Martin. She's a good teacher with complete instruction, easy to follow printouts and clear videos. At time it's a bit too basic, but that would make the class quite accessible for a very early stage quilter.
The idea is to strip piece your blocks to both save time and reduce waste. The patterns are included in the class and are pre labelled with measurements and arrows to dictate the direction of your sewing to make your life SO EASY. I'm loving it.
The pattern I'm using here is the easiest one in the class where you sew only straight lines. The mindlessness makes super sewing after a day at work. The class does include more complex compass blocks and a New York Beauty that I will tackle in the near future. Her instructions on the video make it look do-able.
For fabric, I'm using the Mimosa line and Kona Ash from the shop. I would normally have used a white/cream, but I didn't want the points of the yellow blocks to be lost if a piece of white flower randomly was pieced next to the Kona white/cream. Ash it is, then.
As for waste, there still is some. It's in no way the amount of waste that I would expect from making six blocks the traditional way. This is all of it.... not bad, right?
I have decided to make a quilt top of 9 blocks so that you can see the secondary pinwheels appearing between the primary yellow blocks. For now it lives on the design wall in little 1/4 block pieces. With any luck I'll have a finished top to show you within the week!
10 comments:
This is a great block! You look like you are learning heaps from this class!
I too love paper Piecing but my reasoning for not doing more is a bit different. I hate tearing all that paper out. Hate it. I really love these blocks. , they're gorgeous.
I too love paper Piecing but my reasoning for not doing more is a bit different. I hate tearing all that paper out. Hate it. I really love these blocks. , they're gorgeous.
Love the blocks, but hate the wastage. I've been looking out for ways to use them so I feel less guilty: scrappy patchwork piecing (QAYG) and tinny hexies are my way forward at the moment. And to avoid pulling out the papers I use the freezer paper method so you don't stitch through the paper at all!
I hate the paper tearing bit, too! But I quite enjoy the actual piecing and tend to only do scrappy ones so don't mind the fabric waste - it's all scraps anyway! This is gorgeous, BTW, very striking and beautifully neat!
What a gorgeous block and it looks like so much fun! I love paper piecing and always looking for a good project to make!
the waste bugs me too, cos i cant flip the triangles!
Nice looking blocks. You picked a very good colour combination.Hate wasting fabric and my scrap boxes never get empty!!!
this looks lovely, and something I have yet to master, a few feeble attempts so far. The yellow mimosa is gorgeous.
Gorgeous blocks!!
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