Category Archives: Hand Sewing

English Paper Piecing

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Well, now I feel a little silly.

Remember when I was talking about how no one has time for hand sewing and blah blah and why was it covered in the scrap class?

I guess the reason was to plant a seed, because I came across this pillow tutorial at Sew Mama Sew and I realized that I didn’t like the hexagons from the class because they were too big.  If I’m working with hexagons three inches on a side, I might as well machine sew them.  It would involve Y seams (which I’m not interested in trying yet), but those pieces of fabric are being enough not to get chewed up by the machine (even mine).

That, and I didn’t like the idea of basting through the paper.  It seemed somehow inelegant to me.

The pillow also showed me that hexagons aren’t all about Grandmother’s Flower Gardens, which is a pattern I’m aware of and don’t love.  You can do diamonds!  And other things!  Plus, that pillow got me thinking about a Settlers of Catan pillow, since the game tiles are hexagons and that would look awesome.  We have the game somewhere in the basement and I could either print the fabric at home or use Spoonflower–I’ve been wanting to try them but haven’t had a good excuse.

In short, I think I’ve been bitten by the EPP bug.  I went by the local fabric store and got some 1″ hexagons, but when I got them home, they seemed too big.  I went back and got some 1/2″ hexagons, which seem perfect.

Hexagon Sizes HP

I’m not sure what I’m going to use them for yet, but I’ve started playing around with the orange fabrics I got for Sec’s pumpkin quilt, and the few orange scraps from the eBay scrap boxes, just basting them around the 1/2″ papers and seeing how I like it.

Orange Hexagons HP

This looks like a possible layout, but I’m not sure yet.  Prim walked by and said that his favorite part was the tree (on the lower right), so I may do more fussy-cutting, though the orange fabrics I have don’t feature much in the way of tiny motifs, besides what you see here.

I do think I like the idea of being comfortable not knowing what I’m going to make (besides single-color diamonds in this size)–and knowing that the making will take a long time.  I’m excited about the project, but also relaxed about it so I can enjoy seeing how it turns out.

First Scrap Class

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The scrap class was a lot of fun.  I had to attend with my baby, which was less fun, but he stayed quiet in his stroller through most of it.  Well, about half of it, but I’d not planned on staying the whole time anyway.  Kid’s gotta nap.

The instructor had scraps for us to use, so I didn’t have to buy and fabric, which was awesome.  I was there for all of the first project, which was sewing the 10″ blocks together around the perimeter, then cutting them into non-equal ninths, then opening them and pressing and flipping them into new combinations and sewing them back together.  I do’t have progress pictures, but here it is finished:

Scrap Block 1 Front HP

I learned that my seams are TERRIBLE.  Nothing matched.  I don’t think it’s the machine, but I can’t imagine it was me.  I was going super-slow and it should have worked.  I need to practice a lot more.  Here’s the back:Scrap Block 1 Back HP

I got my second sewed together and immediately cut it wrong, which is a shame because I really like the fabrics.  I suppose I can cut it more and use the center pinwheel and the half-square triangles for something and the rest can go in my scrap bin.

Aborted Scrap Block HP

The instructor told me to dip back into her scrap piles and try to make another block.  I managed to measure right this time for the cutting, but my seams were still awful.

Scrap Block 2 Front HP

I have a picture of the back, but I’ll spare you.  I chose fabrics I thought Prim would like, but I have no idea how to use this in anything, short of cutting it up and salvaging the owl on the bottom right.  I guess these two blocks will form the beginning of the “orphan blocks” pile.

The second project was English Paper Piecing.  She gave us each a 3″ paper hexagon (3″ for one side, 6″ from point to point) and some fabric to loop over the shape and baste closed through the paper.  Then we were supposed to sew them together on one edge to make a needle book (or something? I dunno).  I had to leave before really working on this, but I did take some very cool fabrics and cut them to size.  Who has time for hand sewing anyway?

Scrap Class Hexes HP

And if I really wanted to make a needle book, I’d make it more like a rectangular book so it would be more stable.

See, super-cool fabrics.  Now I’m thinking I need to use them for something and they’re already cut so much that if I cut them more, I’ll lose the interplay of shapes in the fabrics.  <sigh>  Well, these’ll go in my “I just don’t know and even if I did, I need more skills” pile.  I have a feeling a lot of things from this class are going to end up in that pile.

Bonus front of onion fabric picture:

Scrap Class Hex 2 HP