English Paper Piecing Basics: Week 1 - A Little History

Hello, and welcome to our first week on the basics of English Paper Piecing! I'm hoping to cover a range of topics to help you with your English paper pieced projects. There will be step-by-step tutorials, inspirational ideas, free patterns and more, I'll be posting each Monday for the next 10 weeks or so - I have to get organised and sort out the finale schedule ;-) so I do hope you'll join along with me. English paper piecing (EPP) has become oh so popular again in recent years, which I for one am really happy about! It seems so often in quilting and life in general nowadays, to speed everything up. Don't get me wrong there are lots of times when I want to do just that, and if there are new tools or methods to make the lives of us quilters easier, then I'm all for it! Also I know not everyone has the luxury of endless sewing hours but I love the contrast of hand sewing and watching a quilt project grow and develop over time; enjoying the slower pace and process. 

So, What Is English Paper Piecing?

Well, in short - it's an age old technique that is used to make quilts by hand. Fabric is basted over a pre-cut paper template and then the templates are sewn together to form a quilt. Sounds simple, yeh?

When you think of English Paper Piecing; sometimes known as 'mosaic patchwork', hexagon quilts usually spring to mind, largely because It's the most popular and  predominantly used shape throughout the history of the craft. The hexagon pattern originated in England during the 1700's and became a popular design in both Europe and the U.S. during the last quarter of the 18th century - when all thing's English became highly fashionable. Apparently this is how the name 'English' Paper Piecing was coined, it was a marketing stunt! The most recognisable of all EPP patterns; the Grandmother's Flower Garden rose to popularity in the 1920s and 1930's most likely because it can be made easily with scraps, which was so important during the Depression of that time. You can often still find antique EPP quilts with the paper templates intact, which were recycled from books and documents. 

What Materials Do I Need?

So the first couple of posts in our summer series is about getting started, for which you need materials! The great thing about EPP is that you really don't need much to get going. Above are my personal favourite's and tools I use for EPP but by no means is this a definitive list - swap and change to adapt to your preferences and sewing kit you have on hand.

First up you'll need some fabric to chop into! There is a vast supply of 100% cotton quilting fabrics available to us now, so take your pick! When choosing your selection keep in mind the importance of value; you'll need a mix or light and dark fabrics to really make your quilt projects stand out. If you want to try fussy-cutting, look for fabrics with a good repeating pattern (if you have no idea what I'm talking about - don't worry fussy-cutting will be covered later in the series!). You may also want to pre-wash your fabric before starting to test for colour-fastness and allow for shrinkage. 

My personal choice of needle is a Gold Eye Sharps. Size 11. though remember that the thicker the thread the thicker the needle required, so keep that in mind depending on your thread choice. 

I use Aurifil 50wt thread for hand sewing, it's a lovely fine strand so it glides through the fabrics well. However I have heard from the lovely Florence; an avid EPP'er, that she has recently tried Superior's Bottom Line, a strong polyester thread which apparently rarely tangles - so I'm hoping to test that out soon! 

Small scissors are vital for snipping threads as you work through a project. You'll also need some paper scissor's if you choose to make your own paper shapes. 

I like to use my rotary cutter to cut fabric shapes ready for basting, I find the smaller 25mm size is ideal. Though you can use fabric scissors for cutting if you prefer. And a cutting mat of course!

You may also want to try out the Sewline glue pen, which has set the quilting world abuzz since it's release. You can use this instead of hand-sewing the shapes (we'll talk more about that next week), so it really speeds up the process and allows you to crack on with the fun sewing - sewing the shapes together of course! 

And last but by no means least, pre-cut paper piecing templates. We sell a large range of these at Sew and Quilt, and they are certainly my preferred method. I have made my own shapes in the past which was fine, but I soon realised it took up so.much.time. and not fun crafting time - cutting time! Being a leftie, it really wasn't an enjoyable part. I also know when I'm using the pre-cut paper pieces they are die-cut so accuracy is spot on, which is critical for EPP.

How Do They Measure?

Pre-cut paper pieces are sold in various sizes to suit your design needs. Geometric shapes are measured by measuring one of the equal sides. This hexagon below is the 1" size.  

With the curved paper pieces we measure these slightly differently, they are measured across the diameter. The apple core shape below is the 4" size, and the clamshell is the 3" size. 

Almost any shape can be used for EPP, a wide variety of shapes in various sizes will fit together just like a jigsaw so the opportunities for creating individual pieces of patchwork is unlimited! You can finish a quilt made entirely of interlocking shapes or combine completed blocks with needle-turn appliqué to create endless possibilities for design. We'll go through step-by-step ways on finishing EPP quilts later in the series. 

So I figured what better way can I kick off the new EPP summer series than to offer a giveaway for some English Paper Piecing goodies! This is a fantastic starter pack of supplies from my shop Sew and Quilt. One lucky winner will receive a selection of five fat quarters, three packs of Paper Pieces and some needles to get sewing straight away! Oh and a Sewline glue pen!

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How To Enter

For your chance of winning leave me a comment on this post telling me one (or more) things you would like me to cover during the series / or what EPP project you are working on.

For additional entries please share this on any of your favourite social media sites; Facebook / Twitter with an additional comment for every share. 

You can also find me on Instagram @messyjesse1 where I will be offering an additional entry.

Winner will be announced on the blog next Monday 28th July 2014. Competition closes Midnight Sunday 20th July. International entries welcome. Next week is all about the humble Hexagon and getting started! Hope you can join me! Have a great week.