In my post about the challenge quilt Snow Goose, I mentioned paper piecing. There are plenty of tutorials about it out there, but I thought I would show you how I do it.
This project is a quilt I am working on for us to put on our bed. It is a big undertaking to make a king-sized quilt. We looked at a lot of patterns before we decided on what we wanted. This pattern is called “Bali Wedding Star” and is by Quiltworx.com (I have no affiliation with them).
Paper piecing is different from other types of piecing in that you are actually sewing to a piece of paper and you are sewing on the back of the project. It is somewhat counter intuitive and takes a while to get it right.
The paper has markings on it to tell you what order to sew it to the paper and which fabric to place where. When I made Snow Goose, I had to sort out the order myself.
Picturing the process
I had already started working on this set when I decided to take the pictures. I lay the fabric right side up, then place my paper on top and stitch through both along the line.
This project has you stitching several sections to the same long strip of fabric.
You then turn the section over and press the fabric back. Next, you cut the sections apart.
Next, you need to trim the excess fabric so you can get ready to sew the next strip on. I use a piece of plastic card and a special ruler. The ruler has a lip on it so that it catches the card and fits snug against the edge. The Ruler is called “Add a Quarter” by CM designs (no affiliation) since quilting seam allowances are one-quarter inch.
I place the plastic card on the paper, then fold it back on the stitching line. The ruler is then placed against the fold, and I trim the fabric with a rotary cutter. The fabric now has it’s seam allowance.
Trim to the lines and you are ready to sew to the next section.
In these pictures you can see the front and back of the piece before and after it has been trimmed.
Paper piecing gives you repeatable results, with each section being the same size as all the others.
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