English paper piecing.

Yes, I wondered about that too - your hands must really hurt after tring
to baste through cardboard. I have several 'master' templates I have
inherited. Some are a very solid card and some metal. I draw round them
in fine pencil, cut out exactly along the lines so that all the paper
hexagons are exactly the same size. Rather than the old
envelopes/bills/letters I used to use, I have started to use freezer
paper as my 'papers'. They are nice and strong so don't scrumple up or
tear so can be used quite a few times, and when you iron them onto the
back of the fabric they don't move around as you baste through them.

I take them out as I go along, always making sure that the outside edges
still have papers in for joining the next round or section.

When the EPP section is finished I leave the papers round the edges in
to make appliqueing it onto the background easier.

I like EPP and find it really relaxing. I think the main cause of your
battle is sewing two cardboard covered shapes together, as there is no
give. With paper there is. Also I wouldn't like to cut lots of cardboard
shapes out - it would kill my hands! And you must be eating cereals for
every meal!

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)
http://community.webshots.com/user/sallyswin


Polly Esther wrote:
I'm trying to follow this discussion but not doing very well. My
understanding is that in EPP, each little piece's seam allowance is folded
under the paper and then basted *through* the paper. How on earth could you
baste through cereal box cardboard? Somebody come find me. I'm lost.
Polly


"Anna Belle" wrote in message
...
I use all those annoying cards that come ienclosed in magazines. They
are good for several uses and can bend easily.
There are also divider strips in boxes of Tetley Tea that are good.

Anna Belle in scary Palm Bay (arson fires all over)



On Wed, 14 May 2008 16:25:21 +0100, Hanne Gottliebsen
wrote:

I'm doing some English Paper piecing, for a pattern similar to this one
he

http://www.lizardofoz.com.au/english...ong_ideas2.gif

My colours are different, but the layout of each section is the same.

So far, I have been sewing together each section (of 6 half-hexes in
three different colours). Then last night I decided I had better try to
sew together some of the sections.

My "paper" is cereal box cardboard - in order to connect two sections, I
had to bend one piece of card for the second seam. And the whole thing
seems a bit unwieldy.

Now, I don't mind about very bent cardboard - I don't know that I will
ever do this pattern again, although I will keep the unbent templates
for a while at least. But is it supposed to feel like a battle of wills
between me and cardboard backed fabric?


Other than that I like this for a project, it goes really easily and is
portable, so it can come to Summercamp with me :-)

Hanne in London

In article g0f75k$bqb$1@qmul, Hanne Gottliebsen
wrote:


Hanne in London

So far, I have been sewing together each section (of 6 half-hexes in
three different colours). Then last night I decided I had better try to
sew together some of the sections.

My "paper" is cereal box cardboard - in order to connect two sections, I
had to bend one piece of card for the second seam. And the whole thing
seems a bit unwieldy.

Now, I don't mind about very bent cardboard - I don't know that I will
ever do this pattern again, although I will keep the unbent templates
for a while at least. But is it supposed to feel like a battle of wills
between me and cardboard backed fabric?


Other than that I like this for a project, it goes really easily and is
portable, so it can come to Summercamp with me :-)

Hanne in London



I cut templates from very thick interfacing Timtex ?and iron the pieces
well round them then pop them out after oversewing, the templates can
then be reused, sometimes I put one pin in the middle but I often don't
need to if I am vicious enough with the Iron. Before I found this
method I used cut up weekend newspaper magazines

Marion in newtongrange

Marion Bowles wrote:
In article g0f75k$bqb$1@qmul, Hanne Gottliebsen
wrote:

Hanne in London

So far, I have been sewing together each section (of 6 half-hexes in
three different colours). Then last night I decided I had better try to
sew together some of the sections.

My "paper" is cereal box cardboard - in order to connect two sections, I
had to bend one piece of card for the second seam. And the whole thing
seems a bit unwieldy.

Now, I don't mind about very bent cardboard - I don't know that I will
ever do this pattern again, although I will keep the unbent templates
for a while at least. But is it supposed to feel like a battle of wills
between me and cardboard backed fabric?


Other than that I like this for a project, it goes really easily and is
portable, so it can come to Summercamp with me :-)

Hanne in London


I cut templates from very thick interfacing Timtex ?and iron the pieces
well round them then pop them out after oversewing, the templates can
then be reused, sometimes I put one pin in the middle but I often don't
need to if I am vicious enough with the Iron. Before I found this
method I used cut up weekend newspaper magazines

Marion in newtongrange

Marion,

What do you mean by oversewing? The whipstitching pieces together, or what?

After some more practice at holding pieces, it doesn't seem as awkward
as it did at first (thankfully!).

Hanne in London

Thanks,
Hanne

I don't baste through the paper, I read this trick somewhere to just
baste the seam allowance to itself, it works very well. I could even
leave the basting thread in and still easily get the paper (card) out,
if I wanted to be that economical with my time :-)

Hanne in London

Polly Esther wrote:
I'm trying to follow this discussion but not doing very well. My
understanding is that in EPP, each little piece's seam allowance is folded
under the paper and then basted *through* the paper. How on earth could you
baste through cereal box cardboard? Somebody come find me. I'm lost.
Polly


"Anna Belle" wrote in message
...
I use all those annoying cards that come ienclosed in magazines. They
are good for several uses and can bend easily.
There are also divider strips in boxes of Tetley Tea that are good.

Anna Belle in scary Palm Bay (arson fires all over)



On Wed, 14 May 2008 16:25:21 +0100, Hanne Gottliebsen
wrote:

I'm doing some English Paper piecing, for a pattern similar to this one
he

http://www.lizardofoz.com.au/english...ong_ideas2.gif

My colours are different, but the layout of each section is the same.

So far, I have been sewing together each section (of 6 half-hexes in
three different colours). Then last night I decided I had better try to
sew together some of the sections.

My "paper" is cereal box cardboard - in order to connect two sections, I
had to bend one piece of card for the second seam. And the whole thing
seems a bit unwieldy.

Now, I don't mind about very bent cardboard - I don't know that I will
ever do this pattern again, although I will keep the unbent templates
for a while at least. But is it supposed to feel like a battle of wills
between me and cardboard backed fabric?


Other than that I like this for a project, it goes really easily and is
portable, so it can come to Summercamp with me :-)

Hanne in London

I did cut out the shapes over quite some time, and no, I don't eat
cereal all the time. However, the quilt is a wallhanging (assuming I
like it when done), so not too big. It is afterall my first EPP project,
and I wanted to just try the technique with something I thought I could
actually finish :-)

But I probably would not use card in another project now.

Hanne in London


Sally Swindells wrote:
Yes, I wondered about that too - your hands must really hurt after tring
to baste through cardboard. I have several 'master' templates I have
inherited. Some are a very solid card and some metal. I draw round them
in fine pencil, cut out exactly along the lines so that all the paper
hexagons are exactly the same size. Rather than the old
envelopes/bills/letters I used to use, I have started to use freezer
paper as my 'papers'. They are nice and strong so don't scrumple up or
tear so can be used quite a few times, and when you iron them onto the
back of the fabric they don't move around as you baste through them.

I take them out as I go along, always making sure that the outside edges
still have papers in for joining the next round or section.

When the EPP section is finished I leave the papers round the edges in
to make appliqueing it onto the background easier.

I like EPP and find it really relaxing. I think the main cause of your
battle is sewing two cardboard covered shapes together, as there is no
give. With paper there is. Also I wouldn't like to cut lots of cardboard
shapes out - it would kill my hands! And you must be eating cereals for
every meal!

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)
http://community.webshots.com/user/sallyswin


Polly Esther wrote:
I'm trying to follow this discussion but not doing very well. My
understanding is that in EPP, each little piece's seam allowance is
folded under the paper and then basted *through* the paper. How on
earth could you baste through cereal box cardboard? Somebody come
find me. I'm lost. Polly


"Anna Belle" wrote in message
...
I use all those annoying cards that come ienclosed in magazines. They
are good for several uses and can bend easily.
There are also divider strips in boxes of Tetley Tea that are good.

Anna Belle in scary Palm Bay (arson fires all over)



On Wed, 14 May 2008 16:25:21 +0100, Hanne Gottliebsen
wrote:

I'm doing some English Paper piecing, for a pattern similar to this one
he

http://www.lizardofoz.com.au/english...ong_ideas2.gif


My colours are different, but the layout of each section is the same.

So far, I have been sewing together each section (of 6 half-hexes in
three different colours). Then last night I decided I had better try to
sew together some of the sections.

My "paper" is cereal box cardboard - in order to connect two
sections, I
had to bend one piece of card for the second seam. And the whole thing
seems a bit unwieldy.

Now, I don't mind about very bent cardboard - I don't know that I will
ever do this pattern again, although I will keep the unbent templates
for a while at least. But is it supposed to feel like a battle of wills
between me and cardboard backed fabric?


Other than that I like this for a project, it goes really easily and is
portable, so it can come to Summercamp with me :-)

Hanne in London

Hi Hanne,

Just read through the threads on this. One question I have is how do
you live without a printer, lol?

Cartridge paper is a little thicker than ordinary paper and works well
with EPP. I started with hexagons way back in the 90s when I
discovered patchwork. (quilting came later)
My friend introduced me to it. We used metal templates and used to
press the seam allowances over the template then remove the template
and baste down the seams. Worked well but I had many burnt fingers.
lol
Then I moved on to using the card board templates and basting the SA
over. hard on the fingers right enough Polly Then someone
suggested cartridge paper. This I could put through the printer and
using a quilt programme print off loads of even sized hexagons that I
then sat and cut up. Very time consuming but it worked nicely and
evenly.

NOW. I then discovered Inklingo and have to say I'm with Pati on
this. Best thing since sliced bread. However I'm still a novice at
hand piecing but I'm sure that will improve with practice.

Cereal boxes are great to make templates for appliqué and piecing but
are way to thick for EPP. Just my pennies worth.

Elly

http://ellydspatchwork.blogspot.com/
http://community.webshots.com/album/560496349kqCVNS

Marion,

What do you mean by oversewing? The whipstitching pieces together, or what?

After some more practice at holding pieces, it doesn't seem as awkward
as it did at first (thankfully!).

Hanne in London

Thanks,
Hanne

yes whipstitching, is what I was taught to call oversewing. I have also
made some children's balls using either hexagons or 5 sided ones (cant
remember the name) either colours or different fruits and vegetable
prints, we use these with the autistic spectrum disorder children as one
of the ways to encourage them to eat more fruit and vegetables, we also
have squieky and rattling fruit and vegetables which are very popular.

Marion in Newtongrange

I sit in front of the computer half my time at work - I don't use it
much at home at all (half a work-day is enough!).

I also don't actually print very much at all in general. So I just don't
miss it. Now a combined scanner/printer would be nice (no more trips to
the cornershop to do photocopies!)

I'm sure if I had it, I'd find many uses for it and never be able to
stop :-)

Hanne in London

Elly wrote:
Hi Hanne,

Just read through the threads on this. One question I have is how do
you live without a printer, lol?

Cartridge paper is a little thicker than ordinary paper and works well
with EPP. I started with hexagons way back in the 90s when I
discovered patchwork. (quilting came later)
My friend introduced me to it. We used metal templates and used to
press the seam allowances over the template then remove the template
and baste down the seams. Worked well but I had many burnt fingers.
lol
Then I moved on to using the card board templates and basting the SA
over. hard on the fingers right enough Polly Then someone
suggested cartridge paper. This I could put through the printer and
using a quilt programme print off loads of even sized hexagons that I
then sat and cut up. Very time consuming but it worked nicely and
evenly.

NOW. I then discovered Inklingo and have to say I'm with Pati on
this. Best thing since sliced bread. However I'm still a novice at
hand piecing but I'm sure that will improve with practice.

Cereal boxes are great to make templates for appliqué and piecing but
are way to thick for EPP. Just my pennies worth.

Elly

http://ellydspatchwork.blogspot.com/
http://community.webshots.com/album/560496349kqCVNS

English Paper Piecing.
Oh, my goodness. I thought you could get packages of multiple paper
precut templates for this english paper piecing to sew your fabric
around? Is that what you all are talking about? Or are you talking
about cutting out the fabric itself using a template? I'm confused. Is
this something that just isn't commercially available anymore?

I am always confusing EPP with foundation piecing. i would think EPP
is more difficult. i like FP, the reward comes when you can crumple up
the paper and remove it!! leaving sharp points and matching corners.

JMO =)

amy in CNY