English paper piecing for beginners

What it is

In English paper piecing (EPP), you fold fabric over a paper shape, tack it in place, and sew the shapes together by hand at their edges. The papers make every edge and point exact, so shapes that are hard to machine piece, like hexagons, diamonds and jewels, fit perfectly. It’s slow, portable and calm: a few papers and a needle go anywhere.

The classic is Grandmother’s Flower Garden: rosettes of seven hexagons, a center and six petals, joined with a ring of path hexagons between them.

What you need

• Papers of the shape, at their finished size: bought precut, or printed on card stock and cut on the line. A hexagon is sized by its side, so a “1″ hexagon” has 1″ sides.
• Fabric pieces cut ⅜″ bigger than the paper all around, with a template or a ruler.
• A fine needle (a size 10 or 11 milliner’s or sharp), thread that blends with your fabrics, a glue pen or basting thread, and small clips.

Paper and fabric sizes

The fabric piece needs ⅜″ around the paper to fold over. Cut strips as wide as the fabric piece is across its flats (with a little to spare), then cut the hexagons from the strip:

So a 1″ hexagon is 2″ from point to point, and its fabric pieces come from 2⅝″ strips. For any size, and how many papers you need, see Hexagon sizes for English paper piecing.

Basting the papers

1. Center the paper on the wrong side of the fabric piece, with the same ⅜″ showing all around.

2. Fold one edge over the paper and hold it. With a glue pen, run a thin line along the paper’s edge (not on the fold) and press the allowance onto it.

3. Work around the shape, folding each edge over the last so the corners make neat, sharp folds. Leave the little tails at the corners sticking out: they’re fine on the back.

Sewing the shapes together

1. Hold two shapes right sides together, the edges to be joined lined up exactly, corner to corner.

2. Whipstitch along the edge, catching only a thread or two of each fold and not the paper, about 12 to 16 stitches an inch. Knot at each end, or take a couple of stitches in place at the corners.

3. Open them out, add the next shape, and sew the next edge. For a rosette, sew the six petals around the center, then the seams between the petals. Fold the work as you go so each edge lies flat in your hand.

4. Take the papers out once a shape is surrounded on all sides. Press the edge papers in until the quilt’s edge is finished.

From the front, the stitches should barely show. A ladder stitch, sewn from the front with the shapes side by side, hides them completely, and some quilters prefer it.

Common mistakes

• Gaps at the corners. Take an extra stitch at every corner, and match the corners exactly before you start an edge.
• Stitches that show. Too big a bite, or thread that doesn’t blend. Catch just the fold, and choose a gray or a thread a shade darker than the lighter fabric.
• Papers a little off size. Printed papers must be printed at actual size and cut exactly on the line: an error on every paper adds up across a quilt.
• Glue on the fold. It makes the papers hard to take out. Glue on the paper’s edge only.