English Paper Piecing Adventure


I worked on my English paper piecing project last night and I was able to complete 4 of the hexagons.  I also skipped ahead to whip stitching a few of them together while the directions were still fresh in my mind.  In going over some of my notes from the dvd, I realized my whip stitches are a bit too close.  Beth Hayes, host of the segment, recommended stitches that are 1/16th apart from each other.  Mine seem to be much closer and I’m not sure that’s a good thing because you can see some of the stitches on the front of the  project.  I guess that brings me to another question,  what color should be used to piece these together?  I have many bright colors going on here so I just chose white thread.

Here is a photo of my progress.  It shows the three completed hexagons that I stitched and then the backside of the fourth one.  I can’t wait to get back to it.  It took hardly any time at all to get to this point in the project.  Do any of you do English paper piecing?  Any tips or tricks you’d like to share here?

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4 responses to “English Paper Piecing Adventure”

  1. Did you purchase die cut hexagons or cut them yourself? I attempted doing this, I think I did it the hard way (instead of basting with thread I ironed the edges down with starch over the freezer paper). It takes too much time to do it so I’ve thrown what I’ve done so far in a drawer.

    I like the idea of carrying a travel box since this is a project that can travel easily.

    Can’t wait to see more of what you’ve done! I think I might turn mine into a little vase mat or something and start over fresh.

    • I actually had a hexagon punch that came from Creative Memories. I used the 1-1/4″ size punch. I punched about 15 hexagons out of freezer paper to get started. The fabric squares are 2.5″ and I do have to trim around all the edges a bit to get approximately a 1/4″ border (maybe a little more). Beth had basted the hexagons in the video so that it what I did and I find it very easy to handle having done that.
      I like the idea of a vase mat very much. I hadn’t even thought of that and as a person who does not enjoy hand applique’, that is a great way to use these. Thank you for the idea and I’m glad you stopped by to say hello and tell us about your experience with English paper piecing. I hope you pull yours out of the drawer and give it another try. Check back in and show us how it is coming along!
      Sandi

  2. Hi Ann,
    I did a little research on containers at Joann’s today and posted it above as a new blog entry. Hope that helps. Thanks so much for stopping by the blog. It’s nice to hear from you.
    Sandi