jcrow

This month's Craftsy's free BOM is foundation piecing and I'm finding it very frustrating. I'm seeming to be wasting a lot of fabric. She says to cut the fabric 1/2" bigger than the piece calls for, but when I go to cut the extra, I cut 2" or more off. And yesterday, it took me all day to make one block. One 12 1/2" block. Foundation piecing is hard! Am I doing something wrong? Now I have to make the second foundation block and it is twice as hard as the first one and I'm not looking forward to doing it. Are there any short cuts? Any tips? I'm not having fun paper piecing and I want to enjoy it. It's my first attempt and maybe my last.

ckcowl

visit Carol Doak's web site- she is kind of the queen of paper piecing and there are lots of hints, tips and help available on the site.
if you check out the pictures from here of the 50 stars in 50 weeks- we are doing them from one of Carol's books- all paper pieced. the first time i tried it on my own i wasted lots of fabric-hated the technique & swore to never do it again- fast forward 2 years & i tried again- with one of Carol's patterns and i've never looked back- it's one of my favorite techniques & very little waste. good luck

DebraK

great advice.

Floralfab

I learned to paper piece two winters ago and it took me all winter to really figure out what I was doing. It took me more than a day to make my first block. DOn't give up. Get out Carol Doaks book on learning to PP. It will really help you. I now love to PP and you will to. It's fun to do and your points will come out perfect. I am well into my 70's so if I can do it YOU CAN TOO!!

Lisa_wanna_b_quilter

Carol Doak all the way! I can do it her way and no other way. You can make some awesome blocks if you take the time to learn. Once you do a couple of Carol's free patterns you can go back to the block you are trying to make and use her method.

Jingle

So far I haven't had a desire to do PP, but, who knows???

JudyTheSewer

I do most of my quilts with PP. I love the precision it gives. I encourage you to try, try again. It does take a while to get the hang of it. I am hoping that you fall in love with it!

franc36

I, too am having trouble with the Craftsy paper piecing. Once I get the first two pieces sewn, the rest is OK; but I have made so many mistakes with the first two pieces. I feel like I use the seam ripper more than the machine. Also, though I cut the fabric 1/2" larger on each side, I'm having trouble getting every thing to fit. I don't have enough cloth to cut the pieces over. Thank goodness, I haven't cut out the pieces for the second block. I'll make the pieces much larger. I also had trouble sewing the paper without thread. My Bernina would not sew without thread. My Singer Featherweight really saved the day. I'm still working on the first block. Maybe I'll soon know what I'm doing, then I think it will be fun. Thanks for the suggestion of checking out Carol Doak's website. In the meantime I am going over the Craftsy class yet another time.

Scissor Queen

I've done a lot of paper piecing. The best method bar none that I've found so far is Marci Bakers. The pieces fit every single time. Even really odd angles. Every. Single. Time.

She has instructional cards called "know before you sew". I got the basic paper piecing one.

http://shop.online-quilting.com/shop.html

QuiltnNan

i have not foundation pieced, but have tried paper piecing. it is, indeed, difficult at first. once you have a little success, you will be glad you learned. hang in there. please show us how you are doing.