Paper Piecing (Flip & Sew or whatever you call it)

this is the point I was at when I started to take photos

this is with the pieces building as a building block- going round and round

select a piece of fabric, make sure it is the correct size, you can hold it up to a light and see if it is long enough and wide enough to cover the area needed.

from the front put in a pin to hold it in place if you wish - you do not need a pin if you feel comfortable without one

sew directly on the line, using a very small stitch - smaller the stitch the better for when you need to tear all of this paper off

flip it back over and see where you stitched. Now flip it back to the sewing side, fold your paper back and trim your seam. This can be 1/8th of an inch or a 1/4 - your choice, when using such small pieces I eyeball it at about 1/8th

then I press it down

then fold back each side one at a time and trim - again I do this to 1/8" when using tiny pieces but a 1/4" works well on larger blocks to do this you just fold your paper back to the size of seam you want and cut next to the paper - use a ruler to cover the paper if you think you might cut into the paper by accident. If the cut off access is still big enough to use in another block I save it - it gets tossed back to the scraps as this one did. The yellow ruler on my table is a add a quarter inch ruler that is used for paper piecing.

keep building around the block - follow the numbers. On this piece I want to show you what happens if you haven't looked at a piece close enough. On this blue piece in the little corner there is a piece of salvage showing - in this case it will be alright it will be covered by the next seam. But that is what you need to look for when you are selecting your next piece and to make sure it is big enough.

The next piece - white corner - covers that little bit of salvage and no need to pick out a piece to replace. But if the salvage edge had been a little larger I would have had to pick that piece out.

Final step is to trim all the way around the block leaving a quarter inch seam. Leave the paper on the block and you will eventually join all blocks together and tear the paper off when the top is finished. A pain in the you know what and it might take you a couple days to do it depending on the size of your quilt. This is a good way though to use up tiny scraps and the fabric will hold it's shape and not stretch out. This block measures 6 1/2 inches.

my workspace when paper piecing. I have my small portable table set up with little iron mat/cutting mat, travel size iron, rotary cutter ect. The taller cutting table has my scraps dumped on to it, and then the sew ezi table. Small area but all I have to do is rotate the chair and everything is right there. Everything is within reach. Normally for more exercise I iron in the living room, but when using these little pieces I would be popping up and down so often that I took the easier way out and have it set next to me.

this binding is 2 1/2 inches wide, fold it in half, press like you normally do and sew it down with a 3/8 inch seam. Make sure to leave plenty of un-sewn room to work with. For large quilts about a foot on both sides will give you maneuverability room.

from some of the extra binding that you have on your longest end cut a piece off and flatten it out. It doesn't have to be large. You will use the 2 1/2 inch width. Lay that piece on your quilt in the area that your finished binding will meet. (if you make your binding a different size this still works - just use the width of your binding )

straighten out one side of the binding and lay it over that piece of cloth and cut to match up to the end like shown.

Fold the piece that you just cut back and then do the same with the other side.

unfold both of the sides of binding and match to sew together

pin the two pieces together

sew from end to end

cut off the excess

finger press the seam flat and straightened out your binding - see it is a perfect fit. This method takes the guess work out of the equation and makes it exactly the right size.

sew in place to finish your binding.

for the purpose of this tutorial and not wanting to take the time to hand stitch this sample on the back I used spray starch and pressed the binding over to the back so you can see how flat it lays when finished.

When you complete your hand stitching (or whatever method you use) you will be find it hard to find where you finished your binding because of how flat and free of lumps it is. The pin indicated the bias seam that had been sewn together.

First I pick out the general area that I want the flower to go - I am not following a strict pattern and none of these are exact in placement - I just look and kind of eyeball it.

Now that I know the general area I want the flower, I move the pieces out of my way and start with the first piece - I use Roxanne Glue Baste It (available at most on line quilt shops) using the needle nose applicator I put generally about 3 or 4 dots on these small pieces and press in place. I leave the freezer paper on the pieces until it has sat a couple minutes letting the glue dry. ( Around each piece depending on the color of the fabric I use either the Mark Be Gone pen (blue wash out) or white chalk. I draw around each piece of freezer paper before I cut the pieces out. This will be my stitch line. You do not have to do this step if you don't want to - it is just how I do it, I generally have about an 1/8th of an inch for turn under purposes although I do not measure so they are not all the same, I've done it for so long though that they are probably pretty close). I cut all my shapes out with scissors not a rotary cutter - someone asked that in an e mail. I suppose you could use a rotary cutter but I like using scissors for this step.

After the glue has dried for several minutes I lift off the freezer paper with the help of a siletto. You could just do it with your fingernails if you want but I find this little tool helpful and kind of just slide it under and lift off.

Then I glue the center of the flower in place just because I feel like it the center will be lifted off as I do the applique to get all the ends under right and then placed back on - I just think they look cute with the centers on so put them on the for the photos! For the applique I will start with the smallest piece on the top part of the flower the small rounded shape, then I will do the two light color petals then the larger ones. This will have everything tucked under where it needs to go. Not all the flowers are identical. Like I say I do not use a placement sheet. I try to have them all close to the same but I do not care if the petals are not in the exact same placement.

The overall look. I'm not sure what kind of border I will do - it might be just a three inch border or so or maybe nothing. If I do put a border it will be thin and I think wavy edge. I am still thinking of embroidering little tendrils out of each petal in a green color of some sort - I will try it around one flower and see how I like it and decide from there and show you what I decide later. Also with the border I will wait until I am done with the applique and decide then what I want.

step one - take one of the sampler squares from the Moda Box - or if you don't have that use a 2 1/2 inch square, using a 2 inch round circle from my Mylar collection of circles draw around it in pencil.

I like to have plenty of room to work with so I cut about an 1/8 of on inch on the other side of the drawn line.

using strong thread on the right side of fabric sew a basting circle - size of stitch does not matter

next, use the size circle that you are supposed to for the circles - I think this one was 1 3/4 inches - place it in the middle of the circle

put your finger in the middle of the circle to hold it still. Using your other hand pull the thread tightly to bring it up tight against the Mylar plastic

use a little spray starch - either spray it on the circle of fabric or brush with a stencil brush by putting some starch in a small container. This will help hold the circle stiff while you are working with it. Some people don't use the starch but just use plain water - it is up to you. I like the extra stiffness the starch gives.

holding on to the thread tail make sure you have it pulled tight while you are pressing the circle. When the starch is dry and it is pressed, flip it over and press down on the top side.

now loosen up your thread where you had finished the gather at. Loosen it up just enough to remove the plastic circle.

pull your gathering thread lightly to tighten the circle back up - this should be fairly easy as you do have it pressed and it normally pulls back into the circle easily. Press your circle again on both sides and trim your gathering thread tail off.

your finished circle with the template removed.

fold your white square (3 1/2 inches) in half and finger press or iron and then in half again and press. Center your circle in the middle and pin in place. Your circle is now ready for you to applique. Once you get the hang of this method it takes minutes only to prepare each circle. I have 4 pieces of Mylar template the same size so I work up 4 at a time and then start all over again. When I have about 12 circles ready to applique I sit down and get the stitching done. Take a break and work on something else and then try to do another set before boredom sets in