Last week, the hubs and I took a short road trip. I wanted to take something with me to work on for the evenings when we were in the room after doing what ever we did during the day. I have my tatting to work on, but I wasn't working on any particular project at the moment, and I didn't want to find a new pattern. I decided on trying English Paper Piecing. I bought the Accuquilt Qube for English Paper Piecing when they had a sale, and before they raised the prices, and it was time to try it out.
Now, why I thought buying a Qube to cut pieces to sew together by HAND was a good idea, I will never know. I usually detest hand sewing and avoid it as much as possible. But buy it I did, and so now I want to get some use out of it.
First I dug through my scraps to find something I wanted to cut up for practice. I cut half hexagons and equilateral triangles, along with the papers to go with them. I glue basted them, and sewed them together. It wasn't too bad for a first attempt, but there is small spaces between some of the pieces. I think if I were to applique it onto another fabric, it would be fine, but it isn't something I would put in a quilt.
Of course, I had to make it harder on myself, using the wrong needles, and my Wonderfil Invsifil 100wt thread. I didn't have any Milliners needles, so I used what I had, Sharps. The sharps worked, but because they aren't as long, it was harder to grab the needle and pull it through all the fabric. And 100 wt thread is practically invisible, but it is very strong. I figured if my stitches weren't even, and I picked up too much fabric for my stitches, that thin thread may not show as much. Well, I was right, it doesn't show much, but if you aren't used to working with such thin thread, it can be a bit fiddly.
After making that practice piece, I did a little research to find a free pattern I thought I would like to make for my first project. I found a double ring flower, like Grandmothers Flower Garden, and thought that would be a great first project, and I could use some of my scraps and fat quarters. I didn't want to make it as large as the pattern, so I opened up my Electric Quilt and went about designing a quilt in a size I thought I would be able to make. I usually make lap sized quilts rather than bed sized quilts, and this one was going to need 55 double ring flowers, plus the background pieces. The pattern calls for 111 double ring flowers. If you want the pattern for yourself, you can find it at Connecting Threads, along with other free patterns. Double Ring Hexagon Quilt Pattern
Here is a picture of the quilt top. According to the pattern it finishes at 86" by 110".
Now I have the pattern, and I have the means to cut my papers and fabric, it's time to get busy and start cutting. I went through my scraps, and fat quarters looking for fabric I thought would work well. I found a half yard of a solid I decided would be my centers for all my flowers. When I found a pair of fabrics, I cut 18 hexagons from each. I could make two rings, 6 for the inner ring and 12 for the outer ring. I could make two flowers using the same fabrics in each position, or mix up the fabric and use them with a different fabric in the second flower.
I cut enough pieces to make 20 rings, and started glue basting the pieces to my papers. I decided on glue basting only because I have the glue sticks and I need to start using them, and I didn't want to do any more hand sewing than necessary. I basted enough for 3 flowers, and took enough on our trip to baste 7 more. I wasn't sure how much time I would have, or how fast I would get them made, but I didn't want to run out of something to do.
The person who wrote the pattern mentioned that she found it easier to sew the rings leaving one seam open, then add the center, so I thought I would try it. On my first ring, I sewed the inner pieces to each other leaving one seam open, then added the outer ring. Then I added the center and sewed the open seams. Here is a picture of sewing my first ring.
As I was working on this block, I took a picture of it, and posted it on one of my Facebook groups for English Paper Piecing. A member of that group told me it may be easier to stitch them together in 3's, then stitch those sets of 3 to the center. So I decided I would try that on my next flower. Although I don't have any experience making these rings, other than the first one I did, I thought sewing in 3's and then sewing to the center went much faster and easier. You worked with just 3 hexies until it was time to sew them together, then you weren't having to fiddle with a larger piece to add one hexagon. I liked doing it that way, and will probably continue doing that, until I find another way I like better.
Here is a picture of two sets of three, this is for block 3 (I didn't think to take a picture of them while I was sewing block 2).
I haven't stitched any more blocks yet, as we came home a day early. I did get more fabric and papers cut, and have 6 more blocks basted. We are going on another road trip in Sept and again in Oct, and I want to make sure I have plenty of EPP (English Paper Piecing) blocks to take with me, so that I can work on something when we aren't busy doing other things.
While we were on our trip, I went to a quilt store, and was able to find the right needles, and having a longer needle to sew with made a huge difference, in how fast I was able to put the pieces together. I also got thimble. I was using just little leather dots, and they work okay, but I found it kept sliding and my thread would get tangled around the edges, so I bought one that covers my finger. I do believe that having the right tools, make the job at hand easier, so I didn't mind spending some money to get better tools. I also bought a Bohin Needle threader, and wow does it make a difference. Just drop the needle into the hole, put the thread in the space it belongs, and press the button, and just like that, the needle gets threaded!! The eyes of these needles are small so that needle threader makes threading your needles fast and easy.
One of the reasons I started to do EPP was to have something that is portable and easy to grab and take with me, if I'm going to have to be sitting some place. I may not work on this as much when I'm home and can be using my machines, so I don't know how much progress I will be making if we aren't taking any trips. However, if I keep some in the house, instead of in my studio, I can pick it up and work on something, when I can't be over in my studio.
I'm already thinking about the next EPP project I want to work on.
Until next time...Happy Crafting!!!
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