about shop patterns projects printables extras sponsorship wild olive twitter flickr pinterest subscribe

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing


25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

If I'm making a list of 25 craft tools and supplies and processes, you had better believe that English paper piecing is gonna be there. In a season that is so filled with busy (if only busy came just once a year!), I find hand sewing to be calming. In fact, when my life gets crazy, I reach for English paper piecing to give sanity.

Which makes me think of an old Marx Brothers line. While going over a contract, one of the brothers (in a thick accent) says, "You can't fool me! There ain't no Sanity Clause!" Haha...well, they were wrong. Because stitching a few diamonds into a star ornament is your Sanity Clause. Take a look:

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

Here's what you need:

Fabric scraps (I worked with three fabrics, but you could do more or less)
Sewing thread
Felt
Perle cotton
Stuffing
Needle
Scissors
Pins

5-Point Star EPP Templates printed on card stock

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

Here's what you do:

Cut out the diamond shapes from the template (there are more included than you'll need), and make 5 EPP diamonds as you would with hexagons. See my post on this here for more thorough instructions.

Pin a diamond onto the back of the fabric and cut around the shape, leaving a little over 1/4" seam allowance.

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

Fold the edges in and take a few stitches at each of the angles to tack the seam allowance in place. I prefer to NOT stitch through the template, but you can if that's easier for you. Also, you may need to adjust the pin placement a little as you work, since these are fairly small pieces.

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

There's one diamond! The little flaps at the two acute angles can just flap around for now. We'll take care of that later. Make a total of five of these.

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

Stitch the five diamonds together to form a star. Hold two pieces with right sides together and sew the very edge. I'm using ladder stitch here, but whip stitch or running stitch also work. When you are putting these together, the flaps will lay nicely at the center all on their own.

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

Now you've got a nice little star to work with!

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

Remove the card stock pieces from the back of your star and pin the pieced star onto the felt.

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

Using the perle cotton and running stitch, sew the star down onto the felt. Take care so that the stitching looks nice from the back too.

When you come to each point of the star, fold the flap underneath so that they are hidden.

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

Oh! But before you sew all the way around the star, add a teeny bit of stuffing so that your star is a little puffy. Now you can finish sewing the star.

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

Trim around the felt, leaving just a bit of it showing.

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing

Use perle cotton to stitch a hanger through the felt at one of the points. Tie a knot and trim the ends.

25 crafts of christmas // english paper piecing


And just like that, you've got a pieced star ornament! I'm completely convinced that next to embroidery, English paper piecing is the best craft ever. In fact, see those diamonds in the very first photo in this post? They are part of an ENORMOUS project that I've started. It seams that a little crazy is needed for sanity...


And before I go, take a look at these English paper piecing ornaments that Paula made! She used my Advent Tinies patterns (reduced in size a bit) in the center of little quilty trees!

15 comments:

  1. This EPP star is very cute. I also really like the use of the Advent Tinies that were used to make trees by Paula. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love EPP,,,,yep hand stitching is my sanity!! Thank you for sharing the star orni, and Paula's trees are such a wonderful idea for the Advent Tinies.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOVE this!! I love EPP (thanks to you!), I am totally going to make one of these stars this weekend for our tree! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. These are so cute - brilliant idea! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh I adore this!!! Perfect idea for my first tree on my own. Mostly everything is handmade :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. this is SO awesome!! you rock :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love EPP!! It is my favourite craft of all.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love to hand stitch! The hexies projects have been such a delight. Sanity Clause indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  9. So glad I saw your post today - I forgot I made a bunch of Christmas themed diamonds during the summer - now I can make them into stars :) <3

    ReplyDelete
  10. Saw you on craftgawker. Love this!

    ReplyDelete
  11. These are beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is gorgeous! Thanks so much for the tutorial :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous8:25 AM

    The Christmas tree that was made, what size of hexie would be the best to use?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I just finished my first star , I LOVE this project! I sure wish I had seen this last year when you first posted it :) Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete

I often reply to comments in the comments...check back if you have a question!