English Paper Piecing

I recently learned through friends and some research of my own that English Paper Piecing has been known to be around since the mid 17th century in England and the early 18th century in the United States.  Really wish I had known when I made my own Grandmother's Flower Garden about EPP - it would have made a 5+ year project into maybe a 2 year project.  While we now use templates made from note card stock - back in the beginning they used regular paper - old letters, news sheets, catalog pages - whatever they had - cut them into the shapes and then basted the fabric to the paper.  In many instances they left the fabric in the quilt adding extra warmth to the quilt - and also giving us - 250 years later - a glimpse into their lives and their society.

I started with EPP by taking a class with Jo Quilter when she held a workshop through my quilt guild.  I was amazed when I popped out those little hexagons in rapid succession and by the next Christmas had made a Christmas Tree Wall Hanging.

hexagon Christmas tree

I also made a Santa head using a graphic I made in Paint Shop Pro and running through some software that graphed it for me.  

At this time I was thinking that the only use for EPP was for hexagons - but then I realized that any odd shaped piece could be done with it - or any odd piecing arrangement.  Now I do have EQ6 so I was able to print out line drawings onto card stock and cut the pieces apart and use whatever shapes turned up to make my block.

Sheet of Card Stock printed with blocks - also partially completed blocks

This block is for my Women of the Bible Quilt to represent Samson's Mother - titled Bright Hopes - I thought at first glance it was a form of Log Cabin - and it may very well be - but it has a lot of 45 degree corners and half seams making machine sewing a nightmare.  I was going to forget about it until I did Ruth's block which I used EPP for and realized I could do Bright Hopes using the same technique.

Partially completed Bright Hopes Block

It actually turned out to be fairly easy and a lot less frustrating.  Lay the Card Stock piece on the fabric of your choice and cut around the stock leaving enough margin to fold over and baste to the stock.  Then when you have the fabric on enough pieces, you whip stitch then together by hand.  Amazingly, your corners are always perfect and when you take out the basting and remove the cardstock (which can be reused if making more than one block) you have a perfect block for your quilt.