How To Paper Piece Tutorial

I’m still enjoying fine tuning my paper piecing technique while making my scrappy basket blocks in 1930’s prints and I’m really please with how my baskets are turning out. Because of the frustration I experienced when I had attempted to learn how to paper piece I thought I’d put my talents into writing a tutorial on this method of quilting. My hope is to provide clear and concise instructions so others don’t experience the difficulties and frustrations I did.

You’ll first want to gather all of your supplies. These include:
1) small cutting mat
2) pressing surface
3) iron – set on dry heat
4) ruler – I chose to use a 6” x 12” because some of my seams are diagonal and long
5) rotary cutter
6) seam ripper
7) thread clippers
8) card stock card – I didn’t have an index card but a legal sized envelope worked great
9) size 14 needle
10) set your sewing machine for a straight stitch at a 1.5mm stitch length
11) copies of your paper pieced block printed on paper piecing paper – there are several brands to choose from; I selected one manufactured by Patchwork, it comes in a package of 100 sheets

I used a block drafted by Carol Doak and she provides recommended cutting dimensions for each piece required to complete the block. However, if you were to use a block where these dimensions were not provided, you could easily figure out this size yourself. Place your ruler onto your block to measure the piece. Measure the height and width of the piece and add ½” to each side. This is the dimension to use to cut your piece.

Because there are so many pieces, all a different size and many similar, organizing is a key to success. There are several good methods you could choose from but I decided to place my pieces into snack or sandwich sized Ziploc type bags with the piece number and dimensions written on the outside. I organized them in sequence on a baking sheet.


To begin, I placed piece #1 over piece 1 on my block pattern. I eyeballed ¼” seam over the stitching line for piece #2 on the wrong side of the block. I know this seems backwards, but it will work out. I promise.

I then placed piece #2, right sides together, edges matching, onto piece #1

By holding both pieces securely in place, I flipped the pattern over to the printed side and lined up my needle to the line between piece #1 and piece #2. With the needle in the down position, I lift up the pattern to verify my pattern pieces have not shifted and the edges are meeting.

Make sure you have shortened your stitch length to 1.5mm before you begin stitching. You will want to backstitch 2 or 3 stitches at the beginning and ending of each seam.



After stitching the first two pieces I placed the edge of the envelope / index card to the stitching line.

Fold the pattern paper over and crease the paper.


Trim the seam allowance to ¼”.

Fold the pattern paper back and press your seam.

You could finger press your seam but I found I had better results when I pressed with the iron. This is the perfect time to use that small iron you purchased for sew-ins or classes.

Initially, I was told to trim my seam allowances after I had sewn the seam. However, as I progressed in perfecting my paper piecing technique, I learned it worked better for me to trim the remaining seam allowances before I stitched the seam. (I will show why I came to this conclusion a little later.) With this mind, place the envelope / index card edge onto your stitching line for piece #3 and trim the seam to ¼”.

Place piece #3, right sides together with the edge centered on the stitching line.

Place your needle in the down position onto the stitching line.

Lift the pattern paper to verify the pieces have not shifted and the edges line up. Stitch seam and press.

If you turn your pattern paper over to the printed side you will see where each seam begins and ends.

Place your envelope / index card onto the stitching line for piece #4 and fold the pattern paper back. Because the connecting stitching lines have been backstitched you’ll need to carefully pull the paper back to ‘pop’ a couple of stitches so you can fold on the stitching line. Trim to a ¼” seam.

Having trimmed the seam before stitching allows you to see where to place the next piece more clearly while giving you a placement line for the piece. This is especially helpful for odd shaped pieces.

Center the fabric for piece #4 over the stitching line lining up the edges of the pieces. Lining up the edges will ensure a ¼” seam. Notice this piece is triangular. By placing the long side of the triangle on the long side of the triangle on the pattern piece will make certain the piece will cover the shape properly.

Holding the pieces securely, flip the pattern to the printed side. With the needle in the down position, verify the piece has not shift and the edges are lined up. Stitch the seam making certain to backstitch at the beginning and ending of the seam. After sewing the seam, verify you have maintained a ¼” seam and press.

Using the same method as before, place the edge of the envelope / index card on the stitching line for piece #5 and trim to a ¼” seam allowance.

Centering piece #5 on the stitching line, holding onto the pieces securely while flipping the pattern over to the printed side. Verify the pieces have not shifted before stitching the seam line.

Verify your ¼” seam and press.

Using the same method for trimming seam allowance, trim the seam allowance for piece #6.

As you can see from the picture, piece #6 is another triangular shape and the long edge is at a different angle than for pieces #4 and #5.

Matching the long side of the triangle, verify you have proper placement of the piece to ensure coverage.

Center piece #6 while lining up the edges.

Securely hold the pieces together while flipping to the print side of the pattern. With the needle in the down position, verify the pieces have not shifted and the edges are lined up.

Stitch the seam for piece #6.

Verify you have maintained the ¼” seam allowance and press.

Verify there is adequate coverage on all seam lines for piece #6.

Piece #7 is the same shape as piece #6.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #7 as shown for piece #6. Line up the piece to ensure coverage.

Center the piece with the stitching line and line up the edges.

Holding the pieces securely, flip to the printed side and verify the pieces have not shifted and the edges line up.

Stitch the seam.

Verify you have the ¼” seam allowance and press.

Confirm there is at least ¼” seam allowance for all sides.

All the seams have been pressed.

Place the edge of the envelope / index card on the stitching line for piece #8.

Trim to a ¼” seam allowance.

Trimming the seam first allows full view of the area for piece #8.

Center the piece and line up the edges for piece #8.

Holding securely, flip the pattern to the printed side, confirm the pieces have not shifted and stitch the seam. Verify you have maintained a ¼” seam and press.

Trim the seam allowance to ¼” for piece #9.

Trimming to the ¼” seam makes the stitching lines for piece #9 visible for easier placement of the fabric.

Center the fabric for piece #9 on the stitching line and line up the edges.

Hold the pieces securely as while flipping over to the printed side of the pattern. With the needle in the needle down position, verify the pieces have not shifted and the edges are lined up. Stitch the seam, confirm the ¼” seam allowance has been maintained, and press.

Confirm there is adequate seam allowance on all sides of the piece.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #10, line up the fabric, flip to the printed side holding the pieces securely, and stitch.

Verify the ¼” seam allowance and press.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #11. Center the fabric on the stitching line, hold the pieces securely and flip to printed side. Stitch, confirm ¼” seam allowance, and press.

Place the edge of the envelope / index card on the stitching line for piece #12.

Fold the pattern paper over to expose the seam allowance.

Trim the seam allowance to a ¼”.

This is another instance where if the seam allowance was not trimmed prior to stitching, it would be very difficult to line up the fabric and ensure complete coverage.

Center the fabric on the stitching line, hold securely and flip to printed side, verify pieces have not shifted, stitch seam and press.

Center piece #12 and line up the edges, hold the pieces securely and flip to printed side, verify pieces have not shifted, stitch seam and press.

Using the same method as before, trim the seam allowance to ¼” for piece #13. Center the fabric over the stitching line, hold pieces securely and flip to printed side.

Verify the pieces have not shifted and stitch seam.

Press seam.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #14, line up the fabric, hold firmly and flip to printed side.

Confirm pieces have not shifted, stitch seam and press.

Pieces #15 and #16 are very small. For this reason, I trimmed the seam allowance to 1/8” instead of the standard ¼”.

Trimming both pieces to 1/8” will allow the ability to visually see the outline of the pieces for proper placement of the fabric.

Here is what the block looks like after trimming the seam allowance for both pieces.

Here is a shot of the small triangle for pieces #15 and #16.

Center the fabric piece on the seam, hold firmly and flip to the printed side of the pattern, and confirm the pieces have not shifted.

Stitch the seam and press.

Confirm there is adequate seam allowance for all sides of the piece.

Follow the same process for sewing piece #16.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #17. Center the fabric on the stitch line.

Hold the pieces securely, flip to the printed side of the pattern piece, verify the pieces have not shifted, and stitch the seam.

Press the seam and confirm fabric adequately covers the pattern piece.

Trim the seam allowance for piece #18, center the fabric over the pattern piece, hold pieces securely and flip to printed side.

Verify the pieces have not shifted and stitch seam.

Press seam.

Follow the same process for stitching pieces #19 and #20.

Turn the pattern over to the printed side. The pattern has an outline that runs the circumference of the block. The line is the seam line for assembling the blocks and it ensures a ¼” seam allowance. But there is another purpose too.

By stitching around the block using this outline as a guide, the block will retain its shape and size until it is stitched to another block or sashing.

I used the outline as a guide and placed my seam just to the right of the outline. This will guarantee this seam will not be visible when I assemble my blocks.

Next, trim to a ¼” seam allowance on all four sides of the block.

All of the sides have been trimmed to ¼”.

Here is the completed block. At the point when I’m ready to assemble the blocks together, the blocks will be stitched together before the paper is removed.

If anyone is interested, I do have a pdf version of this tutorial. Just make a note in your comment and I’ll send it to you. Remember, I will need your email address to send it, so if you’re set as a no-reply response, you will need to include your email address in your comment. Thanks!

It's Giveaway Time At Sew-Fantastic

Terri, author of the Sew-Fantastic blog is featuring a giveaway in celebration of her 1000th sale in etsy. Visit Terri's blog for a chance to win one or more of eight prizes.

Friendship Bag Swap

I'm participating in a Friendship Bag Swap coordinated by Mishka at Quilting Gallery. There are 26 countries and 41 states that make-up the 288 participants. Although I don't have to mail my friendship bag until October 6th, I wanted to get it mailed sooner because the recipient lives outside of the United States and I'm not sure how long it will take for it to be delivered.

Here is my completed friendship bag. I used a pattern featured on Moda Bake Shop, called Charmed Gift Bag. I modified the pattern slightly so the bag is more of a box shape because I will be adding some goodies in the bag before I mail it. I love how it turned out.

Here is a look inside the bag. The insert allows the bag to sit upright. I hope the recipient likes it.

Welcome to my kitchen today

While at my sew-in last Saturday, one of my friends was generous enough to give me some rhubarb stalks from her garden. I love rhubarb.... Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam and Rhubarb Custard Pie are two of my favorites. I didn't have any strawberries to make the jam, but I had more than enough rhubarb to make a pie while freezing another 18 cups. Yummy!

Rhubarb Custard Pie
400° 50 – 60 minutes


9-inch 2 crust pie crust

4 Tbsp flour
3 eggs

1 tsp nutmeg
2 2/3 Tbsp milk

4 cups rhubarb, cut
2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 400°. Beat eggs, slightly. Add milk. Mix together and stir in sugar, flour, and nutmeg. Add the rhubarb. Fill pie crust shell with mixture and dot with butter. Place top crust and seal edge. Cut vents in top crust to allow steam to escape as the pie bakes.

Bake in 400° oven for 50 – 60 minutes. Cool pie to room temperature before placing into refrigerator.

2 Crust Pie Crust

2 ½ cups flour

1 cup butter, cut into small cubes and frozen
1 tsp salt

4 to 8 Tbsp ice water
1 tsp sugar

In food processor, add flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix. Add frozen butter and pulse until mixture resembles sand. Add ice water, one tablespoon at a time, and pulse just until mixed. You have enough water when the mixture holds together when pressed.

Place a piece of plastic wrap onto counter and spoon half of mixture onto plastic wrap. Tightly wrap pie dough with plastic wrap compressing pie dough as you wrap. Repeat for remaining pie dough. Place into refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Remove pie dough from refrigerator and roll dough out to fit pie plate on a lightly floured surface. Line pie plate and add filling. Repeat for top crust.

100th Post Give-Away

Be sure to visit missymack blog and help her celebrate her 100th post. She's having a great give-away one lucky reader. While you're there, check out her great free BOM.

Scrappy Baskets

I’m what I consider to be a traditional quilter with a hidden desire to add some spark to my designs. Of course I haven’t given way to this desire… Not yet, anyway. I tend to carry this theme in other areas of my life as well.

For instance, baking. I’ve made everything from scratch since I was a young girl. I could bake bread, roll out a pie crust, and bake a cake on my own since I was about eleven years old. However, just let me attempt to use a box shortcut and everything falls apart. Not so much with boxed cake mixes, but I’ve tried bread mixes and have never been very successful with them. Usually I get a very heavy, flat as a pancake loaf of bread. Not very appealing to the eye or stomach, huh? Perhaps it’s my love of creating and personalizing that stumps my success. Even when I bake from scratch I tend to modify the recipes. If it’s a newly tried recipe, I generally follow the recipe step-by-step. But after the first go around, the gloves are off and I modifying the recipe to make it mine. So, perhaps this is why I’ve never been able to conquer paper piecing.

I’ve tried to teach myself how to paper piece several times. In fact, a couple of years ago one of the quilting groups I participate in has a Washington State Block Swap (the blocks are our interpretation of the state of Washington) each year and I had the bright idea to use a paper pieced pattern for my block. It was a friendship star and I had purchased several prints of tulips, daffodils, apples, strawberries, corn, and other flowers or produce grown locally. The pattern was one I had found on the internet and it didn’t come with any instructions. This didn’t deter me because I had watched several demonstrations on paper piecing and it looked simple enough. I thought if I could hand piece an eight pointed star or complete a stack-n-whack block, I could surely stitch together a ‘stitch-by-number’ block. HAH!

Being the organizer that I am, I cut my fabrics into smaller pieces and laid them out according to their number corresponding with my pattern. I printed out several copies of my pattern, inserted a new needle in my machine, wound a couple of extra bobbins, and placed my ruler, small cutting mat, and rotary cutter next to my machine on my sewing table. I started my first block. I carefully lined up the first two pieces, shortened my stitch length, and began stitching. Simple enough. At least it was until I went to finger press my pieces. Because the shapes were angular, the pieces didn’t completely cover the shape. Ripping out 1.5mm stitches is not an easy task, especially when you are doing it with every piece. Within 5 minutes the paper began to fall apart and I was having some very wicked thoughts. Oh, did I mention my husband was sitting in my sewing studio with me? Well, he was until I began to verbalize my wicked thoughts. He promptly got up and went out to his shop until the smoke cleared.

Let’s fast forward to Saturday, September 5, 2009:

It’s a sew-in day with several of my quilting friends and I’ve been prepping all week on projects I want to work on. My friend, Diane, does beautiful work using the paper piecing method and she has offered several times to teach me how to paper piece. I always thought I was a lost cause because I’ve failed so many times. So I selected two different blocks to start with, both of them designed by Carol Doak. I found her patterns to be very user-friendly. She provides cutting information for each piece needed to complete the block which is a huge timesaver.

I arrived at the sew-in and got all of my things organized. After reviewing the blocks I selected, Diane felt the scrappy baskets would be a good one to start with. She sat with me for about 15 minutes and went over the basics and had me stitch a couple of the pieces on my pattern. Diane was so helpful in making sure I had the basics. She is a great teacher. She has a knack for identifying and organizing each step so you can easily understand the process.

I was so successful on Saturday that I stitched two blocks at the sew-in and have stitched four more at home. What do you think of them?

I'm no longer intimidated with paper piecing and am having lots of fun stitching these. I highly recommend Carol Doak's patterns. For the beginner, having the dimensions for cutting the individual pieces is a huge timesaver, not to mention keeping your frustration level down to a minimum. She even has a Yahoo! Group for added support and monthly challenges. Lastly, havinga friend who so generously takes the time to teach this method of quilting is invaluable. Thank you Diane. Without your help this method would not have had such an easy learning curve.

September's Challenge Block

Although I haven't posted for a week, I have been busy in my sewing studio. I was able to complete September's Challenge Block last Saturday while at a sew-in.

This month, my friend Jo, author of the Pieceful Afternoon blog, selected Triangle Chain Block as our challenge block. The block itself went together rather quickly, but I'm not a fan of the sewing instructions. I found I used the written directions for cutting the pieces and assembled it on my own. I really like this block and think it will go nicely in my sampler quilt at the end of a year.