Wednesday 7 November 2012

EPP & hexagons

Do you love hexagons and English Paper Piecing (EPP)?
 
I sure do and above that I love hand stitching. But, I am not fond of the preparation e.g cutting loads of papers very accurately, basting the fabric around the papers, then removing the said papers etc.etc. Hence, I decided to try a glue method for English paperless piecing.
Glad to report that it worked very well! I used it succesfully in this cushion project!
 
 Here's a quick tutorial on the paperless method:
In addition to your fabric, all you need is one paper template of each chosen shape in the finished size (this project had several shapes, but it could be just one hexie), an air erasable disappearing marker or a pencil and a Sewline fabric glue stick!
 
Take a fabric and put the paper template on the right side.
With the disappearing marker, draw the paper outline on the right side of the fabric. 
Cut the fabric adding your desired seam allowance (I used the usual 1/4", but it's not really so exact. As long as the s.a. is there-abouts it's fine).
 
Turn over to the wrong side and apply fabric glue to the edges.

Turn over to the right side and fold over the seam allowances exactly along the marked lines and finger press down to stick.
 
 
  Repeat with all the shapes and you are ready to stitch!
Stitch with a whip stitch close to the edge with right sides together.
As you can see in the picture, I use batting/wadding to lay out the prepared fabric shapes, so that I can easily move it if necessary and the fabric pieces stay well in place as well.
Please note: Leave any outer edges unfolded, as these are the seam allowances of the finished top – the seam allowance is needed when the top is stitched to the border or to a backing.

The pattern for this actual cushion can be bought at Tikki.

No comments:

Post a Comment