sandy l

That's the great thing about paper piecing, getting to use up a lot of fabric, and no guilt about what is trimmed off and tossed into the trash can

ShirleeG

Check out the methods used by Judy Mathison, JUdy Niemeyer and Karen Stone Hardly any waste and an easy method for placing fabrics so you don't come up short.

AlvaStitcher

I used to really stress about the wasted fabric but now I am happy to put some in the trash can. Just so much I can do with all the fabric and scraps I have. Trimmings no longer a problem. LOL

SusieQOH

I just can't wrap my head around paper piecing but I'm still trying! Wasting fabric is the least of my worries haha

NZquilter

Well, at least now I know I'm not doing anything wrong by wasting fabric. I thought there was some deep secret for paper piecing I couldn't find! Thanks, ladies!

Paper piecing is one thing I really want to get good at. I love the look of Judy Niemeyer's work!

carolynjo

I so agree with you, SQ! I am left-handed and dyslexic, so I learned long ago to give up that process.

Lyncat

I’m the same way, it’s such a challenge that it hurts my brain! I have that left-handed, directional confusion all the time!

QuiltingNinaSue

In the Farmer's Wife series of quilt books, I learned to use the templates to cut out the pp blocks, then there was no waste involved.

Macybaby

most of the patterns I've used have you cut your fabric so that you do not have a bias edge for the top fabric. then they "square" it off so you can have a non-bias edge for the next cut.

If you have no problem sewing bias, then you can modify so you don't have all those cut off "squares". So when I have a triangle shape piece, I cut a triangle shape. I still cut oversize so it's easier to get in the right spot. I am often sewing from my stash, and so may not have the amount of yardage specified so want to have as little waste as possible.

This is what I was dealing with.



And this is what my "waste" looked like.

KalamaQuilts

my trimmings look like yours Macy, certainly nothing big enough to use on anything else.