Paper piecing help

I like to put my blocks together with the paper still on.

Glad your first time is working out for you Alice. It's a wonderfully useful technique. I have tried joining with paper on, and off. Here is what I have found:

the paper stabilises everything beautifully, so if you have triangles, with -therefore- bias edges, I would leave the paper on. It is very difficult to match seams etc with the paper on, because the feed dogs can't grip on the paper. So, what I have now decided to do, when I want to leave the paper on, is: to draw my patterns *without* the outside seam allowance included. You can still trim accurately, because you line up your ruler's quarter inch mark with the edge of the paper. But, you have a fabric seam allowance which can be pinned (keeping the pinned piece tiny, within the seam allowance - I 'click' the paper edge with my pin point underneath and then bring it up through the fabric. One set of feed dogs is under fabric, so that helps.

On the other hand, if my edges are not bias, I will usually press carefully, trim and then remove the papers.

A quarter inch binding will be fine for 12" x 12". . In message , Alice writes

Alice I have that tin too :-) it became a UFO after DS2 decided to oil my sewing machine with the blocks still *under* the foot with half a bottle of sewing machine oil (yes the oil came out after 6 weeks of experimentation - copious amounts of dish detergent did the trick!)

first you cut apart the blocks between all the lines leaving the trim lines untouched.

then you paper piece the blocks, then trim on the trim lines and sew the blocks together on the seam lines. then remove the paper - that way you have all the blocks exactly right :-) the size of the binding is one of taste - I personally like to see 1/4" of binding on the front and would cut my binding at 2 1/4 inch and fold it double - I also use my smaller projects to practice my binding on ;-)

With a piece that small, you could simply attach narrow piping at the seam line on the front. Place the backing on the front RST (put a piece of batting on too if you need it.) Stitch the layers together with the front side up so you can see the stitching line from the piping. Leave a little opening to turn RSO. Thus you get the effect of binding with not much bulk. Roberta in D

"Alice" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:Yw2dnU snipped-for-privacy@ptd.net...

Thanks everyone for your very helpful suggestions... I've decided to trim all the blocks (with the paper on), and add a narrow black sashing. I'm hoping that will make the beautiful colors stand out. The binding will be black too. Since I'm in PA Amish country, I'll have to wait until tomorrow when the quilt stores open to buy the black fabric. Thanks again,

Good for you! :)

Correct.

Yes. :)

Don't remove the paper until the entire little quilt is put together and you're ready to quilt it. That way, you don't lose the stabilizing that the paper provides.

I would. Try using strips cut 1.75" wide, which would give you a finished 1/4" binding. Of course, it's entirely up to you -- my preference is almost always for a narrow binding, but you may prefer something else. :)

Alice, leave the paper on until you have the top piece all sewing together.

Alice wrote:

Good questions! I look forward to reading the answers.