Happy New Year!!! I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas break! I thoroughly enjoyed myself and both mum and I got to recharge our batteries a little and spent lots of quality family time. One of my main goals this year is to focus on balancing work/family, but I won't lie it's a hard one! Unfortunately, my New Year hasn't quite gone to plan, as I took a little tumble on the stairs on Tuesday and sprained my ankle. However as they say, all clouds have a silver lining which has meant plenty of time for hand stitches....my favourite! By co-incidence, this months block for our 'A little happy year BOM' includes English Paper Piecing and one of my favourite shapes, a six point star. I thought it may be useful to show how I prepare and stitch these lovely stars. As I've mentioned before I love to sit on an evening (and after injury ha ha) and English Paper Piece, so generally I cut my fabric by holding the paper template against the fabric and roughly cutting the fabric with scissors with a generous 1/4" seam allowance. When I'm more organised I use a Rotary Cutter, which is of course much quicker, for this I allow a 3/8" seam allowance. This picture shows how if required you could cut multiple diamonds in one go. I simply lay out the diamonds allowing an aprox 3/8"s seam allowance ( I eyeball this) and then I'm able to cut multiple diamonds with minimal cuts. (can you see where the triangles are, these could easily, if the fabric piece was larger, produce more diamonds) Fabric cut, it's time to baste. I am now a convert to the glue basting method and I use a Sewline Glue pen (I'll pop a supplies list at the bottom), which, when used goes on blue and dries clear. I start in the top right....... and move clockwise around until all 4 sides have been glued .... For this tutorial I am making a 6 point star, which requires six 6 point diamonds. Did you know that 6 point diamonds also work well with hexagons and equilateral triangles and you can make some really pretty EPP shapes? You can also get different size diamond shapes, for example 8 point diamonds, which create an 8 point star, these also work well with squares...oh the pattern combinations are endless! The preparation for 8 point diamonds and triangles is the same as above. Can you see from the picture below that all my diamonds are glued in exactly the same way, so the little tails are pointing in the same direction, this will make it so much easier when you come to stitching them together. I like to lay out my diamonds out in order that I'm going to sew them....can you see how the tails all pointing in the same clockwise direction.... I then stitch the diamonds together using tiny whip stitches (as shown HERE) into two sets of three. As always I use Aurifil 50wt in a shade to match my fabrics. Then to finish, I stitch the two halves together. Can you now see that by having the tails pointing in the same direction, this helps the diamonds to lay flat and helps reduce bulk. For the BOM the stars are appliqued to 4 Patch background, so at this point I press my star, which will help keep the crisp outer edges in place and then I remove the papers. This is done by carefully lifting the glued edges with my finger. If you were making a larger EPP shape joining lots of diamonds, you would not remove the papers until each one was surrounded by another diamond. Coming back to the BOM, to centre the star on the 4 patch is easily done by matching the seam lines on the 4 patch with the seam lines and points of the star as shown below. The star is held in place with my Clover applique pins. I appliqued the star using tiny little stitches, again using thread to match the star and not the background. I stitch the long side of the diamond (i.e the side without the tail) first and then put a little holding stitch at the point, this gives you a barrier to help tuck the tail in. If necessary you can trim a smidge of the tail, but be careful not to cut too much away..... Repeat this process until all points of the star are appliqued. That's it, nice and easy. I hope that you find this 'A little happy tutorial' useful......here's a close up of my finished stars on my 'A Little Happy Year' quilt........ If you missed out on this Block of the Month (or fancy joining another one!) watch this space, as I'll shortly be doing the grand reveal on our next festive Block of the Month 'A Little Happy Christmas'......which just so happens to have another variation of the 6 point star! As mentioned here's a list of the Scrummy Supplies I used this time...... Sewline Glue Pen ~ available HERE Sewline Glue Refills ~ available HERE English Paper Piecing Papers ~ available HERE See you again soon!
Summer sewing including a new English Paper Piecing project, finishing up a sampler quilt ready for the longarm quilter.
Ready for a Midnight Feast? Made from just diamonds and hexagons, this quilt pattern is a "feast" of scraps (often sewn late into the night)! It is a free, easy English paper pieced (EPP) quilt pattern, perfect for beginners. So, dive into your scrap buckets, and create a Midnight Feast of your own!
Diamonds, basting papers, iron on, english paper piecing. These iron on basting papers are for those of you who love english paper piecing. You will receive 300 papers! They have been precision die cut, and are a great way to use up all of those fabric scraps! Simply iron a template on to the wrong side of a small piece of fabric, trim 1/4" all around, fold over and baste. Whipstitch diamond shapes together, and remove paper, and basting! The temporary iron-on feature keeps the template in place, which makes basting SO much easier! These diamonds have 2 1/4" sides when finished. This packet will make 100 tumbling blocks, or 50 stars! Perfect carry along project, or when you're sitting in front of the tv. Instructions included. Perfect for small projects such as placemats, tablerunners, tote bags, hot pads, potholders, etc. Also great for wallhangings or quilts. Perfect for eight point stars, tumbling blocks, as shown in second and third photos, and many other configurations. To ensure consistent quality, all of my items are created by me alone in a smoke free and pet free home. Thank you for visiting, and supporting handmade! Here is a link to my shop, where you may find something else that interests you! https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/JustMeToo?ref=seller-platform-mcnav
Happy New Year!!! I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas break! I thoroughly enjoyed myself and both mum and I got to recharge our batteries a little and spent lots of quality family time. One of my main goals this year is to focus on balancing work/family, but I won't lie it's a hard one! Unfortunately, my New Year hasn't quite gone to plan, as I took a little tumble on the stairs on Tuesday and sprained my ankle. However as they say, all clouds have a silver lining which has meant plenty of time for hand stitches....my favourite! By co-incidence, this months block for our 'A little happy year BOM' includes English Paper Piecing and one of my favourite shapes, a six point star. I thought it may be useful to show how I prepare and stitch these lovely stars. As I've mentioned before I love to sit on an evening (and after injury ha ha) and English Paper Piece, so generally I cut my fabric by holding the paper template against the fabric and roughly cutting the fabric with scissors with a generous 1/4" seam allowance. When I'm more organised I use a Rotary Cutter, which is of course much quicker, for this I allow a 3/8" seam allowance. This picture shows how if required you could cut multiple diamonds in one go. I simply lay out the diamonds allowing an aprox 3/8"s seam allowance ( I eyeball this) and then I'm able to cut multiple diamonds with minimal cuts. (can you see where the triangles are, these could easily, if the fabric piece was larger, produce more diamonds) Fabric cut, it's time to baste. I am now a convert to the glue basting method and I use a Sewline Glue pen (I'll pop a supplies list at the bottom), which, when used goes on blue and dries clear. I start in the top right....... and move clockwise around until all 4 sides have been glued .... For this tutorial I am making a 6 point star, which requires six 6 point diamonds. Did you know that 6 point diamonds also work well with hexagons and equilateral triangles and you can make some really pretty EPP shapes? You can also get different size diamond shapes, for example 8 point diamonds, which create an 8 point star, these also work well with squares...oh the pattern combinations are endless! The preparation for 8 point diamonds and triangles is the same as above. Can you see from the picture below that all my diamonds are glued in exactly the same way, so the little tails are pointing in the same direction, this will make it so much easier when you come to stitching them together. I like to lay out my diamonds out in order that I'm going to sew them....can you see how the tails all pointing in the same clockwise direction.... I then stitch the diamonds together using tiny whip stitches (as shown HERE) into two sets of three. As always I use Aurifil 50wt in a shade to match my fabrics. Then to finish, I stitch the two halves together. Can you now see that by having the tails pointing in the same direction, this helps the diamonds to lay flat and helps reduce bulk. For the BOM the stars are appliqued to 4 Patch background, so at this point I press my star, which will help keep the crisp outer edges in place and then I remove the papers. This is done by carefully lifting the glued edges with my finger. If you were making a larger EPP shape joining lots of diamonds, you would not remove the papers until each one was surrounded by another diamond. Coming back to the BOM, to centre the star on the 4 patch is easily done by matching the seam lines on the 4 patch with the seam lines and points of the star as shown below. The star is held in place with my Clover applique pins. I appliqued the star using tiny little stitches, again using thread to match the star and not the background. I stitch the long side of the diamond (i.e the side without the tail) first and then put a little holding stitch at the point, this gives you a barrier to help tuck the tail in. If necessary you can trim a smidge of the tail, but be careful not to cut too much away..... Repeat this process until all points of the star are appliqued. That's it, nice and easy. I hope that you find this 'A little happy tutorial' useful......here's a close up of my finished stars on my 'A Little Happy Year' quilt........ If you missed out on this Block of the Month (or fancy joining another one!) watch this space, as I'll shortly be doing the grand reveal on our next festive Block of the Month 'A Little Happy Christmas'......which just so happens to have another variation of the 6 point star! As mentioned here's a list of the Scrummy Supplies I used this time...... Sewline Glue Pen ~ available HERE Sewline Glue Refills ~ available HERE English Paper Piecing Papers ~ available HERE See you again soon!
2" six-point diamonds - 60 degrees: 🧵 Small Pack (75) Pre Cut Pieces for English Paper Piecing. Instructions included. Or 🧵 Large Pack (450) Pre Cut Pieces for English Paper Piecing. Instructions included. English Paper Piecing (EPP) is a fun, portable method of hand sewing that produces perfect patchwork every time! Using thread or glue, baste fabric around the Paper template. Simply whip stitch the basted pieces together. Take it anywhere from the campground, the waiting room, or just the couch! ***FABRIC NOT INCLUDED ~Eligible for our Free Shipping Guarantee a total purchase of $35.00 or more of anything in our shop~ **** Learn To English Paper Piece **** With Jess Finn of Paper Pieces® https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azjF0rZYMd0
Quilt designs featuring 6-point stars have been made by many generations of quilters. Flock of Stars is a free, easy beginner friendly English Paper Pieced (EPP) quilt pattern that shares that heritage and finishes at a great lap size. Click to read the pattern and then download the free printables!
Today the folks over at Martingale and Company sent me a copy of “English Paper Piecing: Fresh new Quilts from Bloom Creek” by Vicki Bellino to review. There are lots of fun projects i…
I've been working on my "oh my stars!" quilt with intention lately. I started it way back in April of 2011. I am so excited that I am on the home stretch! Finally! I have 5 stars left to join to the main piece. Only 5! And 4 of those are already pieced. I have talked to other quilters and it seems to be a common thing to go through a phase of dislike for each quilt at some point during the making process. I've been through several bouts of dislike for this quilt already. Hopefully I've got that all out of my system now. I've got a brilliant plan for the border (thanks to Mary) and I'm excited to show you how that comes together. I think it's going to be fabulous! One funny story associated to this quilt. The other day I told my husband that I hadn't had a chance to sew all day long......get this.......as I was hand-stitching a block together. He just looked at me with the strangest expression on his face. I think I'm about ready for my room at the looney bin. But to his credit, he didn't start packing my bags. :) I'm blaming my memory loss on this looooong cold winter. (I can do that, right?) Happy Monday to you!
English paper piecing is the traditional method of patchwork, hand-sewing shapes together using paper templates which are then whipstitched together. With a huge variety of die-cut shapes and sizes available the design possibilities are endless. Our paper pieces are proudly made by us in-house. 8-point diamonds have a 45 degree angle. When 8 diamonds are joined together they form a star. They tessellate with squares and also make up the classic 'Lone Star' quilt block when used alone. Each pack includes a basic instruction sheet.
Happy Wednesday! I'm excited to share my next project made with the new Cricut Maker*. Find my review of this machine from last week here. This post is sponsored by Cricut*, all opinions, images and text are my own. I've used affiliate links in this post (noted with an *), which means if you click through and buy something, I make a commission, at no extra cost to you. After spending some time with the machine, I got to thinking how perfect it would be for working on English paper piecing (EPP) projects! I could have the machine cut both the paper templates and cut the fabric pieces to size. I know there are a lot of ready-made paper pieces available now, but I had a lot of fun coming up with my own design to make an iPad case a few years back (see that post here). The downside to making something unique is having to cut out all the pieces. Enter the Cricut Maker*! I was glad to finally have an excuse to cut into some prints from Daisy Chain by Annabel Wrigley* for this project. If you're new to English paper piecing, I highly recommend All Points Patchwork by Diane Gilleland*. It's a great resource, especially if you're interested in designing your own blocks! Again, I made a video showing how I uploaded the images that I used (available for you to download below), cut the paper pieces and fabric pieces from start to finish. Materials Needed for EPP Block: - 3 fat quarters quilting cotton - Medium-weight cardstock (11"x11" sheet, or two 8.5"x11" sheets) - Coordinating thread - Hand stitching needle 1. Download the image files for this project: Paper Diamond Template and Fabric Diamond Template. 2. Using the Cricut Maker* machine, cut out 30 paper diamonds. From two fabrics, cut 12 diamonds each. From the third fabric, cut 6 diamonds. (Here is the tool set* I was using in the video.) 3. Baste diamonds using your preferred method. I hand stitch my fabrics in place, going through the paper. You could also use a glue pen! 4. Arrange your basted diamonds using the photo above as a guide. 5. Begin hand stitching your diamonds together. I use a simple whip stitch, but feel free to use whatever hand stitch you're comfortable with, just be sure not to stitch through the paper templates. 6. Press block well from both the front and back. Snip basting threads and gently remove papers. Give the block another good press. 7. Make more blocks for an entire quilt (with additional pieces in between motifs for filler, or applique block onto a bag, pillow, or even a dishtowel! My favorite attachment method is a simple top stitch along the outer edges of the block. Here are a few ideas for what to make with your block: I used my block to spruce up a simple Lined Drawstring Bag! This is the Artist size bag. (pattern) I love using applique blocks on pouches, like this one I use for embroidery projects. Make a few and stitch them onto a big pillow. Or, make a bold and colorful dishtowel! (tutorial) Happy Quilting!
Ready for a Midnight Feast? Made from just diamonds and hexagons, this quilt pattern is a "feast" of scraps (often sewn late into the night)! It is a free, easy English paper pieced (EPP) quilt pattern, perfect for beginners. So, dive into your scrap buckets, and create a Midnight Feast of your own!
1-1/2" size 12-point diamond paper templates. English Paper Piecing is a traditional quilting and patchwork method of hand-sewing shapes together using paper templates. With a variety of shapes and sizes available the design possibilities are endless. These packs of pre-cut shapes are proudly made in England the home of English Paper Piecing. 30 degree diamonds or 12-point diamonds make up a star pattern when 12 shapes are joined together. We measure our diamonds along the length of one side. Basic instruction sheet included.
Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine is the bestselling modern quilting magazine, featuring stylish quilt patterns, essential techniques, news and more!
I like to draft my own master templates of diamonds, equilateral triangles and hexagons. A hexagon is made up of three diamonds and half a diamond makes an equilateral triangle. So if you can draft a sheet of diamonds all of the other shapes are at your disposal. Why bother drafting master templates when there are free templates available? I find that they often have space between each shape so that means more cutting and wasted paper. I want my diamonds, triangles and hexagons butted up one next to the other because it makes the cutting faster and there is less scrap paper left over. Another reason is that I might want to customize the size of the diamond, hexagon or triangle. Once I've created a master template I name the template and write it at the top in coloured ink. That way I know it is a master template and all copies are made from the master. The name of the master template could be the project, the size of the diamond or the date. I do whatever works best for me at that moment. I put each of my master templates in a sheet protector and then store them in a binder of hexagon templates and projects. When I need papers for English paper piecing I just pull out the master and make copies! To draft your own templates you will need the following: graph paper, mechanical pencil (you need something that will make a thin, sharp line and ruler with a 60 degree angle. To start you will draw a horizontal line on the graph paper. Decide on the distance "height" of the diamond. This is the distance between two parallel lines. I am using a height of 1 1/2". Draw a line at the 1 1/2" mark. I would now draw all of the horizontal lines however for demonstration purposes I'll work with two. Line up the 60 degree mark on your ruler on a horizontal line on the graph paper. You can use any horizontal line on the graph paper. Draw a diagonal line. Line up the 1 1/2" mark on the ruler on the 60 degree line that was just drawn. Draw a line. Move the ruler over 1 1/2" and draw another line. Repeat this process until the sheet is full of the 60 degree lines. And there you have it - a sheet of diamonds! This sheet of diamonds can be used to create hexagons and equilateral triangles. You can combine all of these shapes to create a motif and they will fit together like a charm! I used this method to make Mom's Flower Bed. To create a hexagon you will have to dissect two of the diamonds. The pink lines show how to draw the hexagon. Notice how the dissected diamond now creates an equilateral triangle. To create an entire sheet of hexagons I would draft the diamonds and then dissect the diamonds to create the hexagons and then erase all unnecessary lines. Alternatively you can dissect the diamonds using a different colour of pencil/pen. Before I go I thought I would share the next five Lazy Punk blocks. Until I post again, happy sewing!
One of the unique things about paper pieces for English paper piecing (EPP) are the little fabric tails you get when basting any shape that has an angle narrower than 90°, which is pretty common in EPP unless you stick to hexagons! Click to read more about how to tackle those EPP tails like a pro!
Ready for a Midnight Feast? Made from just diamonds and hexagons, this quilt pattern is a "feast" of scraps (often sewn late into the night)! It is a free, easy English paper pieced (EPP) quilt pattern, perfect for beginners. So, dive into your scrap buckets, and create a Midnight Feast of your own!
Ready for a Midnight Feast? Made from just diamonds and hexagons, this quilt pattern is a "feast" of scraps (often sewn late into the night)! It is a free, easy English paper pieced (EPP) quilt pattern, perfect for beginners. So, dive into your scrap buckets, and create a Midnight Feast of your own!
Ready for a Midnight Feast? Made from just diamonds and hexagons, this quilt pattern is a "feast" of scraps (often sewn late into the night)! It is a free, easy English paper pieced (EPP) quilt pattern, perfect for beginners. So, dive into your scrap buckets, and create a Midnight Feast of your own!
I think one of the the most popular shapes for English paper piecing is the hexagon. We need paper templates for English paper piecing and we could buy these templates or we could make our own templates. If you think this task is boring and takes too much time, check out the technique I explained […]
I like to draft my own master templates of diamonds, equilateral triangles and hexagons. A hexagon is made up of three diamonds and half a diamond makes an equilateral triangle. So if you can draft a sheet of diamonds all of the other shapes are at your disposal. Why bother drafting master templates when there are free templates available? I find that they often have space between each shape so that means more cutting and wasted paper. I want my diamonds, triangles and hexagons butted up one next to the other because it makes the cutting faster and there is less scrap paper left over. Another reason is that I might want to customize the size of the diamond, hexagon or triangle. Once I've created a master template I name the template and write it at the top in coloured ink. That way I know it is a master template and all copies are made from the master. The name of the master template could be the project, the size of the diamond or the date. I do whatever works best for me at that moment. I put each of my master templates in a sheet protector and then store them in a binder of hexagon templates and projects. When I need papers for English paper piecing I just pull out the master and make copies! To draft your own templates you will need the following: graph paper, mechanical pencil (you need something that will make a thin, sharp line and ruler with a 60 degree angle. To start you will draw a horizontal line on the graph paper. Decide on the distance "height" of the diamond. This is the distance between two parallel lines. I am using a height of 1 1/2". Draw a line at the 1 1/2" mark. I would now draw all of the horizontal lines however for demonstration purposes I'll work with two. Line up the 60 degree mark on your ruler on a horizontal line on the graph paper. You can use any horizontal line on the graph paper. Draw a diagonal line. Line up the 1 1/2" mark on the ruler on the 60 degree line that was just drawn. Draw a line. Move the ruler over 1 1/2" and draw another line. Repeat this process until the sheet is full of the 60 degree lines. And there you have it - a sheet of diamonds! This sheet of diamonds can be used to create hexagons and equilateral triangles. You can combine all of these shapes to create a motif and they will fit together like a charm! I used this method to make Mom's Flower Bed. To create a hexagon you will have to dissect two of the diamonds. The pink lines show how to draw the hexagon. Notice how the dissected diamond now creates an equilateral triangle. To create an entire sheet of hexagons I would draft the diamonds and then dissect the diamonds to create the hexagons and then erase all unnecessary lines. Alternatively you can dissect the diamonds using a different colour of pencil/pen. Before I go I thought I would share the next five Lazy Punk blocks. Until I post again, happy sewing!
1-1/2" size 5-point diamond paper templates. English Paper Piecing is a traditional quilting and patchwork method of hand-sewing shapes together using paper templates. With a variety of shapes and sizes available the design possibilities are endless. These packs of pre-cut shapes are proudly made in England the home of English Paper Piecing. 72 degree diamonds or 5-point diamonds make up a star pattern when 5 shapes are joined together. We measure our diamonds along the length of one side. Basic instruction sheet included.
(Please note that affiliate links have been used in this post.) A few weeks ago I showed you how to glue baste some diamonds for a stocking I was making for my four year old. This was the first tim…
Learn how to fussy cut EPP diamonds with Chardel as she shows you the tools you need to make the most out of fabric designs.
I think one of the the most popular shapes for English paper piecing is the hexagon. We need paper templates for English paper piecing and we could buy these templates or we could make our own templates. If you think this task is boring and takes too much time, check out the technique I explained […]
All of my English paper pieced diamonds are now stitched together and ready to be appliqued to the border strip. They are so bright and cheerful and will be the perfect finished for my quilt. As I was pressing them (with a little spray starch) before removing the basting threads and paper it occurred to me that they could be assembled into some interesting larger diamonds. Here are a couple of examples. I think there are lots of possibilities for assembling these into some new and interesting designs. For now the diamonds are going to be appliqued to the border. I've cut 4 1/4" strips of fabric for the border. The next step was to draw a line 2" from the edge of the strip that will attach to the quilt and the line is on the right side of the fabric. I'll use this mark to line up the points of the diamonds. My diamonds measure just shy of 5" from point to point and my strip measures 85" (excluding seam allowances). This means I will be able to applique 17 diamonds. I found the middle of the strip and centred the first diamond over the middle being sure the line up the points on the pencil line. The basting threads and papers have been removed. I pin with applique pins and then applique the diamond in place. Here you can see the tip of one diamond stitched down and the pencil line extending to the left. The next diamond is positioned and ready to be pinned in place for appliqueing. And here is part of the border strip with a few diamonds stitched down. I'll do this sewing in the evenings so it will take me at least a week to get it done and then I'll attach the borders to the quilt. Can't wait to see them on the quilt! Flare Fabrics is having a sale and until September 20th you can take an extra 20% off your order. Best of all shipping is free within Canada. Great deal! A deal like this is not to be missed so I ordered a bundle of 23 fat quarters and with tax it worked out to $47! Don't know what I'll do with these but they sure are nice! If you want more fabric (need doesn't enter into it) head on over to Flare Fabrics! There's lots there to choose from! Work continues on Mom's African quilt. Here are some pictures of what I've done for her thus far. She'll embellish with beads and embroidery and gold hoop earrings! There'll be no post tomorrow because I've been invited to go hear Edyta Sitar speak. Should be a fun day out! Until I post again, happy sewing!
One of the unique things about paper pieces for English paper piecing (EPP) are the little fabric tails you get when basting any shape that has an angle narrower than 90°, which is pretty common in EPP unless you stick to hexagons! Click to read more about how to tackle those EPP tails like a pro!
Quilt designs featuring 6-point stars have been made by many generations of quilters. Flock of Stars is a free, easy beginner friendly English Paper Pieced (EPP) quilt pattern that shares that heritage and finishes at a great lap size. Click to read the pattern and then download the free printables!
Ready for a Midnight Feast? Made from just diamonds and hexagons, this quilt pattern is a "feast" of scraps (often sewn late into the night)! It is a free, easy English paper pieced (EPP) quilt pattern, perfect for beginners. So, dive into your scrap buckets, and create a Midnight Feast of your own!
Ready for a Midnight Feast? Made from just diamonds and hexagons, this quilt pattern is a "feast" of scraps (often sewn late into the night)! It is a free, easy English paper pieced (EPP) quilt pattern, perfect for beginners. So, dive into your scrap buckets, and create a Midnight Feast of your own!
Quilt designs featuring 6-point stars have been made by many generations of quilters. Flock of Stars is a free, easy beginner friendly English Paper Pieced (EPP) quilt pattern that shares that heritage and finishes at a great lap size. Click to read the pattern and then download the free printables!
I can't get over how amazingly detailed this tutorial on English Paper Piecing is by Sunshine's Creations. It's the same technique as see on Heather
