Friday, November 30, 2012

Hearts and more hearts

I've been paper-piecing these little hearts this week.
The little straight ones are possibly the simplest and most fun little paper-pieced hearts! And I really like how the heart-in-a-heart turned out, too. It almost looks like a heart-shaped gem in a heart-shaped ring, doesn't it?

Just a few notes about removing the paper foundations: every quilter has his/her own preference. For me, when joining sections together, I like to remove the paper in the outside seam allowances, anywhere I'll be joining edges. Then I leave the rest of the paper there, until I'm ready to join the blocks together into the quilt. I just feel it stabilizes the block better until joining in the quilt.

When paper-piecing, it is helpful to use a larger needle, such as a 90/14, which can help penetrate the layers and paper. Then set your machine to a slightly shorter stitch length than the preset. The larger needle holes and smaller stitches work together to help make the paper easier to remove afterwards.

Whenever you decide to remove the paper, work in reverse order of sewing, if you can. That's usually from the outside in. Use a pair of tweezers or the tip of small scissors to pry up the corner of a piece of paper in a patch, press onto the seamline with another finger, which stabilizes the seams and helps prevent stitches from pulling out with the paper. --it helps to do this on a flat, hard surface--
Then slowly pull the paper off along the seamlines.

And I just got my borders done and all attached, on the first round of Quilt U Be Mine! Whew!





1 comment:

  1. Really pretty heart and thanks for the hints. I still need to find the time to try some pp.

    ReplyDelete