English Paper Piecing

OK, so my sister wanted a tutorial on English Paper Piecing. Well, hope you guys are ready because when I explain something I go over board. Are you ready? OK, lets go!

So for this project I am working with 1" hexagons. When you measure paper pieces you measure down one side so you can always have an accurate size. When working with a 1" hexagon you need to make 2 1/2 " squares of fabric.

Line up the paper piece on the back side of the fabric. Some people prefer to pin the piece to the fabric but I don't.

Start by folding over one side of the fabric making sure not to let the paper piece move too much or you won't have enough to work with on the other side. Start basting by piercing through the fabric and the paper piece.

Once you have basted one side fold over the next side of fabric making sure to have the corner neatly tucked. Continue basting.

Once you have basted all the way around the piece it should look like this. You can trim the back for a 1/4' seam but it's not necessary. I do find it useful to do when you have lighter color fabrics.

You can randomly connect them or to create a "flower" you will need one center piece and 6 outer pieces.

Once you have your pieces basted place the center piece, right sides together, with one of the outer pieces. Starting on on corner whip stitch them together along one side.

Once you have completed one side it should look like this.

Open up and place the next outer piece, right sides together, on the center piece and whip stitch these sides together.

Continue the process for each side of the center piece.

Once all of the center piece sides have been stitched to another piece remove the basting and paper piece. save the paper piece as this can be used numerous times. I get about 5 to 6 uses out of mine.

Fold flower in half and start whip stitching the sides of the flower together.

When you have all of the sides done it should look like this.

Once you have made your flowers you can connect them together in which ever fashion you prefer. Many patterns out there can help you with layouts.

Hope this helped you understand the paper piecing process.