Paper-Piecing #2

Yesterday I shared with you a paper-piecing idea I got from The Martha Stewart show. Since then I’ve been looking around on different quilt blogs and discovered this very talented quilters work. I really like this Paintbox design she is using. I looked high and low for a paper-piecing pattern similar but couldn’t find one so I decided to make one myself. It was really easy- I just used graph paper and played around until I found the right look I wanted. I made copies on regular paper to use for my project.



Instructions:
Turn the square over to the backside and place the first two pieces, right sides together over square one. (Put the print you want to be in the center face up – in this example that’s the pink print).



Flip the square over and sew along the line between number 1 & 2. (You can pin them in place but I think it’s just easier to hold it). I also like to back stitch a little beyond each line.



It looks very uneven so I fold down the paper and cut the excess to make a nice neat seam.

Before…


After…


Flip piece over and press.



Continue with piece #3. Place the scrap right side down over the two squares you just sewed.



Continue with previous steps…







Continue with each piece until you have them all attached. Your square will look something like this….



Now flip it over to the front and use a rotary mat and cutter to trim off the excess.



You’ll end up with this…



Now flip it over again and rip off the paper backing.







Ta-da…you’re done! Once I get going and get several of these done in an hour.



Please let me know if you give these a try. I’d love to hear your feedback!

Paper-piecing

The past few years I've wanted to learn to quilt. My grandmother made some beautiful quilts during her life. I've made simple patchwork baby quilts but nothing beyond that. All the prep work of cutting the squares and strips seems so time consuming. A few months ago I saw a segment on Martha where a woman showed a paper-piecing technique. I got really excited because this seemed so much easier. You can just use scraps- no precise cutting etc. Click here for the tutorial from Martha's show.

Below are some sample squares I made from the Martha tutorial.





Cute coasters I quilted and used my serger to roll the hem.



I made my own paper-piecing tutorial which I will add tomorrow.

Melissa