What is English Paper Piecing?
English paper piecing (EPP) is another wonderful technique for making patchwork quilts. Piecing together fabrics using a paper template. The technique is mainly hand-stitched but there are some ways you can piece the pieces together with a machine too.
In general, these templates are basted with the fabric to form the shape of the fabric pieces before piecing the pieces together. This technique allows an easier and more accurate way to piece together various shapes of fabrics.
One of the popular EPP patterns is the Hexagon flower.

There are affiliate links within this post where I may earn a commission from the links, please find my full disclosure here.
What is the difference between paper piecing and English paper piecing?
Paper piecing technique is another technique often used in making patchwork quilts. Though the term may seem similar. It is totally a different technique. Paper piecing technique or may also be known as foundation paper piecing (FPP) is similar in terms of using paper as a template but it is done differently.
You can see this post here to see an example of foundation paper piecing.
Do you remove the paper in English paper piecing?
Yes! Unless you use one of the wash-away fusible as the templates. But, since we’re talking about papers here – then the answer is YES. We do have to remove the paper at the end of the process.
Make sure the paper is only removed once all the sides that need to be stitched to another piece are completed. If you remove it too early, it will be difficult to sew the pieces together.
How do you make an English paper piecing template?
There are many ways to make or buy templates. But in simple terms, just cut the papers into shape. You can find how to cut EPP templates efficiently in this post HERE>.
You can also buy laser cut to precision EPP templates in various shapes! Check them out HERE>
English Paper Piecing tutorials:
I have listed below, EPP Tutorials available from this blog for you to get started.
Looking for English Paper Piecing Patterns?
There are many beautiful ones these days, but HERE is a post where I share some of the hot trending ones.
Or you can check out the following links:
EPP patterns on Amazon
Free EPP printable templates
Welcome to the series of my slow stitching projects documentation. Basically, I wanted to document the slow progress of my hand-stitched projects on a weekly/forthnightly basis for a couple of reasons: I wanted to make myself accountable and make sure I do sit and enjoy hand-stitching at least one session per week. Documenting progress is always […] Read more…
Welcome to the series of my slow stitching projects documentation. Basically, I wanted to document the slow progress of my hand-stitched projects on a weekly/forthnightly basis for a couple of reasons: I wanted to make myself accountable and make sure I do sit and enjoy hand-stitching at least one session per week. Documenting progress is always […] Read more…
Welcome to the series of my slow stitching projects documentation. Basically, I wanted to document the slow progress of my hand-stitched projects on a weekly/bi-weekly basis for a couple of reasons: I wanted to make myself accountable and make sure I do sit and enjoy hand-stitching at least one session per week. Documenting progress is always […] Read more…
Welcome to the 2nd posts of my slow stitching projects documentation. Basically, I wanted to document the slow progress of my hand-stitched projects on a weekly/bi-weekly basis for a couple of reasons: I wanted to make myself accountable and make sure I do sit and enjoy hand-stitching at least one session per week. Documenting progress is […] Read more…
Welcome to the first series of my slow stitching projects documentation. Basically, I wanted to document the slow progress of my hand-stitched projects on a weekly/bi-weekly basis for a couple of reasons: I wanted to make myself accountable and make sure I do sit and enjoy hand-stitching at least one session per week. Documenting progress is […] Read more…
I’d like to share with you in this post some of the ways that you can stitch together your basted English Paper Piecing blocks. Be it hexagons, diamonds or even square or any shape possible really :). This is following the series of English Paper Piecing Technique I have previously on the blog: 5 Ways […] Read more…
I have a slow growing flower garden in my sewing room. The one with flowers that blooms and continues to bloom forever. The slow process of making these English paper pieced flowers from little hexagons is itself a great therapy. I am not shooting to finish fast, rather enjoy doing it little by little from […] Read more…
There are a couple of well-known ways to baste English paper piecing templates. While there are no right or wrong, I’d like to point out some of the pros and cons of the template basting techniques based on my thoughts (some may have a different opinion). So in this post let’s go through a couple of […] Read more…
Sharing my latest finish, the patchwork block keeper with a video on how it functions here…. This is my latest finished project made using The Book : QUILTING ON THE GO:ENGLISH PAPER PIECING by Sharon Burgess. Read more…
Here I am on the day on the awaited tour for Sharon’s new book – Quilting on The Go: English Paper Piecing Book Firstly first, I am so honoured to be asked by Sharon to be a part of the tour and to receive this advance copy by Tula Publishing. I have always admired Sharon’s […] Read more…