While I enjoy a lot of different crafts, English paper piecing or EPP is one of my most favorite. So it's about time that I have more EPP basics tutorials around here!
I've shared lots of free patterns for EPP projects and of course I do stitching clubs every year that combine embroidery and EPP. But it's been ages since I just made a basic tutorial here on my blog. Enter my plan to make videos. This started back in November, and one of the videos included here is from then. But I wanted one easy post to send folks to that has the two key processes for this hand-sewn quilt technique.
The first step for English paper piecing is cutting and basting the pieces. In this video I show you two methods for thread basting, which I still prefer over glue basting. These work for all shapes with straight edges.
If you're looking for the happy hexagons I used for the sample in this, you can find the free printable here on my blog!
After you prepare your EPP shapes, you need to stitch them together. Over the years, I've worked with three methods to join my pieces, and I truly think it comes down to what you like. It's about finding what works for your hands and how you feel about the way the stitches look.
After you finish joining all your pieces together, the last official step for the EPP portion is to remove the paper pieces from the back of your work. If you have large pieces that you basted through the paper, you need to snip and remove those basting threads first. Then just pull out the papers. It's sooooo satisfying!
From there, each project you do is likely to have a specific set of instructions for proceeding, but it's usually a lot like any other quilt!
If you're looking for some EPP inspiration, be sure to look through my EPP posts!
I will have to share these. I post photos of all my EPP projects - mostly your patterns - and friends will ask me about it and I try to explain it to them. This will be easier for them to watch.
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