English Paper Piecing

For several months now I keep getting drawn into research on English Paper Piecing (EPP).  So, I finally decided to dive in.  I've done a lot of hand-sewing over the years, but it has never been something I particularly enjoyed.  I think I may be a convert!

Read on for some tips and pointers.


Once you have done all of your research (searching on Google, Pinterest, Flickr, etc. will get you down that rabbit hole!), here is how to get started.

Decide on your templates

You can use paper, cardstock, or plastic templates (purchase or make yourself).

The nice thing about paper is that you probably have some you can start using now; however, paper is not going to be durable and will likely not be able to re-used many times.

Cardstock (the lightest weight you can get is fine) is nice because it gives better structure to each piece than paper.  I ended up buying a multi-color pack of cardstock so I could keep the shapes separated; blue for hexies, yellow for diamonds, etc.

For paper or cardstock templates, there are some great printable templates online, so don't feel like you have to draw your own.  I do like this page where you can choose a wide variety of "graph" grid sizes and shapes, but there are many others online, as well.

Plastic templates are something I might invest in once I'm sure I want to keep doing EPP.  You could make your own from heat-resistant plastic template sheets, but it would be time-consuming.  If you can find some online it may be a good investment as they will last a long time.

Gather up some fabric

To start, you'll want to use some leftover fabric, but be sure to get some contrasting colors so you can play around with the layout.

Collect your tools

• Needle(s) - sharps, the smaller the better, but get a few so you can decide what works best for you.
• Scissors - Nothing big will be required; in fact, smaller may be better.
• Paper Clips - maybe 10-15
• Thread - polyester all-purpose thread is best since you will be running the thread through quite a few times and don't want it to fray.
• Thimble, if you use one.  I don't know how anyone could do this much hand-sewing without a thimble.

Get Started

The first step is to cut out a piece of fabric (rough cut, no precision needed here) that is at least 1/4 inch larger than the template.  Fold the fabric over the straight edges, securing with paper clips.  You'll decide how many you need - I find that some shapes only need it on two sides - but the general purpose is to keep the fabric from slipping as you do the basting.

Next, you "baste" the fabric to the template.  You'll have a decision to make here, particularly if you are using paper or cardstock templates.  You'll have to decide whether to baste the fabric to the template, running the needle and thread through the paper, or simply tack the corners.  I haven't decided which method is best, so I'm using both and will make up my mind after I'm further into the process.

Once you have a nice collection of covered templates, you start stitching them together along the sides.  There are tricks to the process, such as:

• Don't remove the template until all sides of a shape have been joined to another shape.
• Do your best to only catch one layer of fabric as you are sewing the edges together.
• Try to learn the Knicker Knot to secure your corners.  Here's a great video.

There are so many great tutorials on the internet, so there is no point in doing my own; but, here are some of the ones I've found the most helpful.

• Basting tutorial
• Multi-part tutorial, nice pictures

This will certainly be a nice addition (my husband would say "addiction") to add to my repertoire!