English Paper Piecing

English paper piecing is a very old construction technique used because of its accuracy and ease of sewing. It consisted of basting over a paper foundation to hold and support the fabric pieces while sewing them together. Quilters today still enjoy this method because of its portability, and continue to use if in sewing hexagon, diamond, baby block, and star patterns. There are many different precut papers and templates on the market today for those interested in this method.

I prefer using freezer paper because by pressing it on the fabric it eliminates the need for pins. In addition, you can use the templates many times over. If you choose this method, simply cut your freezer paper to the desired size and print your templates (if you wish thicker templates, iron the printed sheet onto a second sheet of freezer paper before cutting the templates out). This tutorial will teach you how to use freezer paper and the English Paper Piecing technique to join hexagons quickly and accurately.

1. Cut out your freezer paper templates and press onto the back side of your fabric. Cut the fabric with a 1/4" seam all around.

2. Fold over the edges, mitering the corners. Tack the corners together through all fabric folds. Make sure you avoid catching the paper, however. Tack each corner a couple of times, and then simply move your needle and thread along the whole edge without stitching, to the next corner. Tack the next corner, and move on. Do not worry about that loose thread - it will be hidden anyway when you join your pieces and then sandwich for quilting.

3. To join pieces: right sides together, line up the edges of the two pieces you are joining. Whip-stitch the edges together. It's as simple as that!

4. Keep the paper on until you finish joining all the pieces in the design of your choice. It helps stabilize the piece and keep your edges nice and crisp while you sew! Once you are finished, simply pop the papers out. Remember: another of the advantages of freezer paper is that you can use the templates again!

Tips and tricks:

- For large-sized hexagons and other geometric shapes, it is sometimes difficult to keep the seam allowances down in place between the corner bastings. In these cases, try one tiny basting stitch through all layers, in the middle of each side. After you finish joining all pieces, simply slip the tip of your scissors through these tiny stitches and snip. Remove the paper... the threads will be pulled to the backside.

- For some projects (like purses or baskets) you might want to consider using a thick fusible interfacing instead of the freezer paper. In this case, the interfacing will be left on, making the project stiff.

For your convenience, a pdf file is provided by clicking on the link below , with sheets of different sized hexagon templates. Just cut your freezer paper letter size, and you’re ready to print off all the templates you need.