Wow! Have you seen all the awesome English Paper Piecing projects that are out there??
1. Um it’s looking like it will be 24×24. Is that to big for a pillow?, 2. hot damn! finished my PTS pillow!! 😀, 3. spring carnival – quilted, 4. tutorial – hexagon pouch, 5. hexie swap rnd 1.5 – received, 6. my gift to a sister yam! 🙂, 7. Finished!, 8. FWA – Soulsister of Lyrics on Hexies (PTS7), 9. hexy MF template set
I love them. I think the English Paper Piecing (EPP) looks amazing and I have wanted to start a project for quite some time now. I have dabbled here and there and made a few hexies to applique on a pouch here and there but I never committed to a full project. Not a pillow and for sure not a quilt! Cutting out the papers from my printer and THEN making them into little hexagons took forever. You have to have 2 pairs of scissors, there’s all these paper scraps and fabric scraps to deal with…I was not hooked. Then Katy decided to do a quilt along for her amazing Hexy MF quilt (the last one in the mosaic). I love this quilt! So, I decided to get myself organized and join the quilt along!
Before I get into the whole shebang about my English Paper Piecing Kit let me talk about why I think making myself a Kit changed my mind about EPP. Before I was a quilter, I was a knitter. Those of you who knit know how awesome it is to bring your knitting with you and whip it out when you have some idle time. I knew that I was going to have some idle time this summer and I wanted something to do with my hands. I wanted something portable and attractive and stand-alone so none of the supplies in the kit were needed for anything else and they would never be missing. And! I needed to get the fabric and papers ready to go ahead of time to make it easy to leave and just grab the bag. It’s totally working for me! A few simple things made English Paper Piecing fun and enjoyable and easy to whip out and work on.
First thing that I did for this kit is buy precut papers. Best idea ever. I bought them from Paper Pieces.com using the 25% off coupon code from Katy’s Blog. I chose the 1.5″ papers (needed for this quilt) and also got some 1″ papers for the future. This cut my time in half and I can work on the sewing part which I like best anyway!
Second, I cut all my fabric into squares:
I cut mine to 3.75″ squares for the 1.5″ paper pieces. Katy also has a template in her shop that you can buy if you want to cut them to exact hexagons. I’m lazy…so I just baste them as a square. Having the squares cut and ready to go is a big help. I was just cutting from a big FQ and that was a mess.
The rest of my kit:
50 weight Aurifil thread – nice and thin to help them lay flat.
Sewline Glue Sitck – I use this instead of a pin to hold the fabric in place while I’m basting.
Quilting Sharps – These are working fine but I’m going to try the Clover Black Gold Needles
Ginger 5″ Scissors – I deserve a nice pair for my kit! I like this better than those tiny ones in case I need to cut fabric too.
Then I stuck it all in this adorable Octopurse that Daphne sent me! I love this Melody Miller print!!
There you are! All ready to pick up and go and make lots of little Hexies!
Next I’m going to pick up Tacha’s new book Hexa-Go-Go: English Paper Piecing 16 Quilt Projects
justabitfrayed 
I’m so happy that people are finally realising how great EPP is – it’s all I do – my output is low but I enjoy every minute – and no ironing. I look forward to seeing what you make.
Yes, it’s more fun than a picnic and I love the portability!
Dang. That’s why I haven’t started mine yet. I need an Octopurse to keep it in.
Hi Brenda – you are inspiring me to give this a try… I like having something to do with that idle time too and your suggestion of getting the kit ready ahead of time is likely the key. Thanks!
Cool xxx
I tried EPP about 3 decades ago and decided it wasn’t for me… but your examples are SO pretty, I can see the appeal. And of course, if it can fit into a darling little bag, so much the better!
What an absolutely inspiring post, thanks for that! I go on a few trips thru the summertime along with my husband and have some spare time sitting outside or camping and Ive wanted to bring along a small totable project (that was not a big hot quilt). What about cutting up cardboard hexigons and then pulling them out after you sew to reuse them?
I love english paper piecing myself. I loathe cutting out all of the papers though! I have just made a craft bag for a friend with them and amnow ready to do something else.
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My first quilt was a paper-pieced hexagon, and I vowed, ‘Never again’. Recently, I have been rethinking that decision. I didn’t like my first quilt because I started it when I was in my teens and didn’t design it terribly well (poor colours and layout), not because of the hexagons. I love the travel kit.
The hexies are the most popular shape, but there are lots of others too: triangles, pentagons, octagons. even clamshells.
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You’ve been peeking in my bag! I have a very similar travel kit, only mine is in plastic ziplocs. Now I need to get me an octopurse! I only just started EPP, but, like you, I chose the shortcut of leaving my pieces square. Lazy? Smart? Perhaps a bit of both. I made a bunch of plastic templates which I intend to use forever. I don’t sew through my templates, I baste by catching just the corners of the fabric. No threads to remove later. Haven’t gotten very far yet, but I’m planning a trip abroad and thought these would be perfect to take along.