Would you like to make some extra pocket money to buy fabrics?
I have always been interested in such thing. You know, knowing that my hobby can support itself. It is sort of like a less guilty kind of feeling, if you get what I mean.. not that you should be guilty of buying fabrics though. Just so you know. I am with you.
Have you heard the awesome event coming soon from Craftsy + Cricut?
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 methods of basting english paper piecing pieces.
If you haven’t tried English Paper Piecing (EPP for short), it is a form of patchwork done with paper templates basted to the fabric to keep the fabric in shape. It is suitable for lots of different shapes that fit like a puzzle. Mostly these are geometrical shapes which can be stitched together into beautiful shapes and mandalas. You can see some example in this post.
If you have been EPP-ing quite a while, let me know which one is your favorite basting technique and why. If you have a different way than the one I have mentioned, share it with us, please…
There are affiliate links provided in this post for your convenience. I may earn a small commission when you purchase at NO cost to you. Please find my full disclosure here.
This is one of the first methods I tried when I started EPP. I like a couple of things about this method, but in the end, I find it too much of a hassle to remove the paper.
Basting simply means you can just do a running stitch punching through the fabrics and paper around the templates. You can see an example of this in the stripey hexagon in the center of the photo above.
The benefit of this method is that the paper is securely attached to the fabric. This makes it wonderful for securing it while finishing all around each side. Particularly important when fussy cutting and you want the paper template to be in the exact position.
Pros: Easy quick basting stitch. Secures paper well to fabric.
Cons: May leave stitch holes on the surface. Need to remove the basting stitches then the paper.
This one is my favorite basting technique as I don’t like removing paper and this method makes that step easier and I can re-use my templates.
Here is a brief tutorial on how to stitch baste only the corners:
This is one of the common ways modern EPP-ers are rocking it. It is fast, quick, and easy to baste.
The question that people always ask about this method is all type of glue stick okay?
Honestly, I don’t find any difference in the specific glue stick or the regular glue stick your kids use. The only difference is probably the size of the tip and the blue colour makes it easy to see.
I have great success with the cheap purple glue stick before.
I find that the cheaper the glue stick is probably best as it doesn’t stick so well and makes it easy to remove the paper later.
Here is a video of me glue basting:
However, with the glue stick basting method, I do find that removing the paper will not be as easy as removing it if I were to stitch baste (on the fabric only, not paper). But it is not too bad either.
Here is a video of me removing the paper from glue basted pieces:
Pros: fast, easy to get. Portable.
Cons: Costly (if using the EPP exclusive glue stick). A little bit of work when removing the paper later. Can be sticky and messy.
Have you heard or seen this one?
I love the idea of it but it looks a bit tedious that I haven’t even got time to try it myself.
Here is a video of the how-to.
I am thinking that a regular cheap paintbrush with a cup of starch or even easier, try this brush pen. Fill it in with starch water and starch away. Easy and clean.
Pros: No need to remove paper! The solid crease line can guide sewing better. Cheaper as compared to the EPP gluestick.
Cons: Not so portable as it requires ironing. And you may need to buy those mini iron if you don’t have one yet. Need electrical port unless your iron works on battery.
Well, this one wouldn’t be so paper-y would it? Shall we still call it English paper piecing then? It is similar to the idea of the EPP technique, so we’ll keep it here as another option.
This technique uses a fusible fleece as the templates as opposed to papers. These fusible have to be cut into the shape of the EPP pieces required and basted to the fabric using the fusible glue on the fleece. The fusible sides are activated to stick once heated using the iron.
Basically, you will have to fold the fabric edges and iron them to stick to the fusible fleece.
I haven’t tried this one yet, but the thought of having to carefully iron on the edges scares me and I feel like it is too much work. But it might be worth a try. I am thinking that with these, you may not need to remove the fusible fleece at all. They are soft enough to be in a quilt.
Pros: No need to remove the paper. No messy glue residue.
Cons: Cost. Need to cut out fleece shapes. Need ironing. Not so portable. Fleece can be a little too soft to create sharp edges.
Drop a comment and let us know how you baste you EPP pieces. We’d love to hear them.
Or if you have a tip on how to do either of them, share them too, please 🙂 I know you are all full of wisdom.
Related Post:
What do you do while your hands are at EPP? Listen to audible books? If you have not tried audible, here is a link to try it out for free and you get two books to start with. Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks
If you are not the book type, how about some movies on HBO. I love movie time while stitching! Get a free trial on amazon here. [Join HBO Free Trial
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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.
Here I am on the day on the awaited tour for Sharon’s new 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 work and to be a part of this tour is an amazing opportunity (I may have squealed and jumped up and down telling my hubby about it when I Sharon asked… hehe)
This post contain affiliate links for your convenience and the book was given to me as a part of the tour. However, all opinion are honest and comes from me. You can find my full disclosure here.
Anyway, as I love English paper Piecing, it was a no brainer YES to join the book tour. I love the cover page of the book featuring some of the best project in the book. So, immediately my head said I wanted to try that Celestial Star Quilt – the centre main photo of the book cover. However, I knew that I would not have enough time to make it in time for the book tour. Besides, there were many more projects in the book that is so gorgeous to try out too!
I love that the book has different size projects from small quilts, small items to large quilts. Therefore it is perfect for picking the right one that’ll suit your time. Besides, I can easily see that they are interchangeable, meaning that one EPP pattern can be used for another project.
As I flickered through the book, I kept switching my thoughts to making the pouch or the Dilly Bag or the Quilt Block Keeper. All of them are quite a small project that I can handle right now in the business of life with the littles.
I finally decided on the Quilt Block Keeper as I had all my Sewcial Bee Sampler Block everywhere around the sewing room and thought that it’ll be nice to have one to keep those organized.
I started cutting my templates and picking out fabrics.
While picking put for fabrics, I knew I wanted to do a little bot of fussy cutting for the centre 8 point diamond star.
A flowery inspiration came to me lately and it suits my current Audible listening too. I am currently listening to
Isn’t that book cover just gorgeous?
Besides….I love flowery prints.
I am using Art Gallery Fabrics for this project just because I can’t wait to use this AGF when I received it in the mail. I bought mine from Polka Dot Tea Fabrics. You can also get similar one from the Fat Quarter Shop.
I love how it turned out. This pattern is so beautiful.
The EPP block itself is huge. It turned out 14 inches square finished. I have patched it to the other side and free motion quilted it.
I chose a solid for the back of the book and free motion quilt some feathers. Small projects are always a great place to practice some free motion quilting.
This is my first time using variegated thread. I am loving how it turns out and how blend-able it is.
While my plan was to finish the project book in time for this post, God has better plans.
It turns out that I had to finish writing this post in a hospital, and I didn’t get to finish my project book yet.
Don’t worry, my son is getting better (had a bit of chest infection) and hopefully he can be discharged tomorrow or so.
In the meantime, I am enjoying my sweet time with him and some youtube watching 🙂
I hope you enjoy the post! Sorry but I gotta make it short this time round and didn’t have time to edit photos…
If it is your first time here, feel free to browse around and sign up for my monthly newsletter if you like it!
Also join me over on instagram and pinterest for more of my quilty projects and inspirations.
| July 1 | Sharon Burgess | @lilabellelane | blog.lilabellelanecreations.com |
| July 2 | Martina Bahre | @avaandneve | www.avaandneve.com.au/blog/ |
| July 5 | Sharon Burgess | @lilabellelane | blog.lilabellelanecreations.com |
| July 8 | Alex Luenz | @ALEXOUQ | www.instagram.com/alexouq/ |
| July 10 | Weekly round up | @ilabellelane | lilabellelanecreations.com |
| July 12 | Rita Hodge | @redpepperquilts | www.redpepperquilts.com |
| July 13 | Elise Baek | @eliseandemelie | www.eliseandemelie.com/ |
| July 14 | Jennie Pickett | @cloverandviolet | www.cloverandviolet.com/blog |
| July 15 | Angela Hamilton | @alittlepatchwork | www.alittlepatchwork.wordpress.com |
| July 17 | Weekly round up | @lilabellelane | blog.lilabellelanecreations.com |
| July 18 | Heidi Grohs | @buttonsandbutterflies | www.buttonsandbutterflies.com |
| July 19 | Carlie Lincoln | @quilty_carlie | www.instagram.com/quilty_carlie/ |
| July 20 | Jess Finn | @paperpiecesepp | www.paperpieces.com |
| July 21 | Alison von Bibra | @cotton_factory | www.cottonfactory.wordpress.com |
| July 22 | Anorina Morris | @SameliasMum | www.sameliasmum.com |
| July 23 | Kristyne Czepuryk | @prettybyhand | prettybyhand.com |
| July 24 | Weekly round up | @lilabellelane | blog.lilabellelanecreations.com |
| July 25 | Amy Smart | @diaryofaquilter.com | www.diaryofaquilter.com |
| July 26 | Nadra Ridgeway | @ellisandhiggs.com | www.ellisandhiggs.com |
| July 27 | Lauren Wright | @mollyandmama | www.mollyandmama.com.au |
| July 28 | Giuseppe Ribaudo | @giucy_giuce | www.instagram.com/giucy_giuce/ |
| July 29 | Jodi Godfrey | @talesofcloth | www.talesofcloth.com |
| July 31 | Weekly round up | @lilabellelane | blog.lilabellelanecreations.com |
| Aug 1 | Amira Ameruddin | @amira_littlemushroomcap | thelittlemushroomcap.com |
| Aug 2 | Melody Daly | @melodymatilda | thehouseonthesideofthehill.blogspot.com.au/ |
| Aug 3 | Sedef Imer | @downgrapevinelane | www.downgrapevinelane.com |
| Aug 4 | Martina Bahre | @avaaandneve | www.avaandneve.com.au/blog/ |
| Aug 5 | Samantha Green | @fortheloveoffabric | www.fortheloveoffabric.net |
| Aug 6 | Alisha Orlando | @ministryoffabric | www.ministryoffabric.com.au |
| Aug 7 | Weekly round up | @lilabellelane | blog.lilabellelanecreations.com |
| Aug 8 | Minki Kim | @zeriano | minkikim.com |
| Aug 9 | Carlie Lincoln | @quilty_carlie | www.instagram.com/quilty_carlie/ |
| Aug 10 | Alex Luenz | @ALEXOUQ | www.instagram.com/alexouq/ |
| Aug 11 | Mathew Boudreaux | @MisterDomestic | www.MisterDomestic.net |
| Aug 12 | Anna Cromie | @spanzy | www.instagram.com/spanzy/ |
| Aug 13 | Elise Baek | @eliseandemelie | www.eliseandemelie.com |
| Aug 14 | Wynn Tan | @zakkaArt | www.zakkaArt.blogspot.com |
| Aug 15 | Final wrap up | @ilabellelane | blog.lilabellelanecreations.com |
Now, there is a couple of options for you to get english paper piecing templates and today I am sharing with you, one of the most accessible ways to prep them is to cut them by yourself.
I designed the templates on the computer so that it is rotary cut friendly, print them out and cut them using the rotary cutter.
You can choose a couple of different size hexagon templates in TLMC resource library. Sign up here if you haven’t yet.
I find that this is the easiest way for me to get quick templates and easy for me to keep adding more if I need them.
However, there are other ways to cut these templates yourself and you might find yourself loving one method more than the other. Of course, each technique will have its own advantages and disadvantages. Let me walk you through some of them.
There are affiliate links in this post for your convenience. Please find my full disclosure here.
I am a fan of Amazon.
I can scroll for hours and add things to my cart and sometime I ended up buying, but sometime not. Eitherway, I had fun.
If you are not yet on board with this english paper piecing, quilting-on-the-go thing, I think this is a great time to start. When I think of English Paper Piecing Patterns, I can see the grandmother flower being one of the popular one. But…
Have you seen some of the most amazing English paper piecing patterns (EPP) popping around lately? Yes, they are hot in trend. And I am talking about those non-Hexies EPP.
English paper piecing does take a lot of patience, but with amazing potential of using various shapes turning them into beautiful kaleidoscopic patterns, it is well worth the time.
I am a fan of English Paper Piecing myself. I started by making the standard grandmother hexagon flowers, and a penrose tile once too.
More of this Penrose tile project here back in 2012
If you want to start English Paper Piecing today, go ahead and print out some make-it-yourself EPP templates from TLMC resource library available for FREE! If you are not yet in the tribe to access the library, join here.
For now, let me bring you some of the latest pattern and the trendsetting/ters in this EPP industry…
This post contains affiliate links put for your convenience. Please find my full disclosure here.
Have you heard about this one? Am sure you have – this was the quilt that got many people on board with EPP a few years back.
While this english paper piecing technique has been long used and it is very traditional,I believe that it is not that much in trend until social influencers (quilt instagrammers and bloggers) start posting these gorgeous cogs of La Passacaglia
With a mix of cute and fun fussy cut, these mandala-styled cogs are getting the attention they deserve.
Photo credited to Jenn, Karen, Mister Domestic, Liz, Alexouq, Tula Pink, Kate
As much as I would love to, I have never tried to make La Passacaglia Quilt. I didn’t really quite like the whole idea of putting the cogs together. However, it is a “maybe some day project” for me.
I like each individual cogs, but putting them together seems a little too much for me. Somehow I feel like each cog lost their sparkles when they are joined altogether.
Nonetheless, they do look like a whole wow of a quilt – like fireworks in the sky when they are joined together.
Hence I still enjoy the makings and the finishes of other people’s La Passacaglia Quilt.
If you are looking for inspiration for the La Passacaglia Quilt and thinking of making one, here are some of the links I have enjoyed.
The book is not available anymore through Amazon, (there is one available at a ridiculous price 
Karen from DIY addict has a “get start” tutorial on how to make the La Passacaglia Quilt, and she has kits available which include the paper pieces and the templates for the quilt.
Lillabelle Lane did wonders with Tula Pink’s fabric – Her Passacaglia Quilt was one of my favourite, mainly because I love her work and Tula Pink’s fabric. So a combo of that is this Ah-Mazing Quilt!
Photo is taken from Lilabelle Lane Instagram. Hop over Lilabelle Lane’s Blog – where she shares her La Passacaglia progress.
Well, I would say that the La Passacaglia Quilt did kind of set the trend for awesome english paper piecing pattern that recently just popped up.
I think it did kind of spark the creativity in exploring the possibilities of English Paper Piecing.
Hence, you would likely to see a lot more people trying this traditional technique in modern patterns and fabrics.
Here are some that are hot in trend and are blasting off over on Instagram. If you would like to start one, check these out and sew-along with the others!
Here is one of the most recent one, and if you are on instagram lately, you should have seen this. It is just amazing. I love the idea of having the pattern in different layout. If you are interested in making one, the kit is available through DIY addict.
Photo taken from #moonstonequilt by Lydia, Giucy Guice
As I mentioned earlier, Karen has made a La Passacaglia quilt and share tutorial on how to start one but she also has a bussiness around the world of EPP. She has various EPP kit and patterns available in her shop and one of the popular one is the Mischief Quilt which is super-awesome for fussy cutting. You can get the kit here.
Here are some snippet from the hashtag #mischiefquilt on instagram. Some amazing work on the block.
Photo taken randomly from hashtag #mischiefquilt. Photo by Cnythia @woncynti, @quiltlady63 @thatmoderncrafter, Sandi@Craftyplanner
This one is among the popular one. Jodi of Tales of Quilt offered it as a monthly subscription at first and it is just inspiring to see each block made by all makers. Tutorial for this Ice Cream Soda block is available here. Although the subsription is no longer available, Jodi have various ready-cut EPP templates to make all kinds of pattern including the Ice Cream Soda Quilt.
Photo taken from the #icecreamsodaquilts by Jess@elvengardenquilts, Jo@jogreeny, Nicole@nicole.loves.color, Andrea
Jodi is a great inspiration to english paper piecing in this modern english paper piecing quilting world. Most of her recent quilt are english paper pieced, check her Instagram or you can find her quilt work here.
(Note – I am going to be joining her Shape Family design Challenge, come and join too, am sure it is going to be trendsetting too!)
Sharon is no stranger in this world of modern English Paper Piecing. While her work is always amazing regardless EPP or not, her EPP works always caught my attention. I have mentioned her La Passacaglia Quilt earlier but these two quilt patterns are another amazing EPP quilts that she herself has designed.
One is the tenderness quilt – a beautiful bloom, each one made using a non-traditional EPP template. You can find the kit here.
Photo is taken from LilabelleLane’s blog where Sharon shares the story behind the quilt. See more beautiful blooms here.
Another one is the Celestial Star which made the cover of Sharon’s latest book,‘Quilting on the Go, English Paper Piecing’. This quilt is outstanding, and I can’t wait to see more of the quilt in different version. There are so many great English Paper Piecing Patterns in this book!
This one is in progress made by Ava and Eve
The kit for making the Celestial Star Quilt is available here.
Sharon has a book tour going now till 15th August and wait till you see more of this Celestial Quilt Block popping!
Again Sharon of Lillabellelane has made this beautiful quilt designed by Sue Daley. I have learned lots of technique from Sue, and she is one of the popular influencer in EPP. Her technique available in her book, New English Paper Piecing, A faster Approach to a traditional favourite and her Sewline ‘gluestick‘ is widely used these days for EPP.
One of the latest trendy EPP quilt pattern is the Quatro Colour Quilt. I simply love how the variation of the background pieces made the quilt looks like it has a border.
You can get the kit to make Quatro Colours here. Watch a video tutorial here for this quatro colours quilt.
I am always in awe of the amazing works by Tula Pink. Not only that she design fabrics, she makes all of her show quilts herself! Including those english paper-pieced ones. Her recent line, the spirit animal came out with this Tula Nova Quilt and it is english paper pieced.
The kit and the pattern is available here.
Tula Pink’s fabric line are among the favourite for EPP-addict to fussy cut as they are novelty, not to mention superbly designed!
If you are a Tula Fan, make sure you watch this video to see her in her amazing studio.
I love that there are more and more amazing English Paper Patterns out there these days. The hand stitching project is definitely making a comeback!
check out these post to help you get started:
and let me know what EPP project are you working on or looking forward to?
Why make more quilts while you already have many piled up in the closet (or literally everywhere around the house) ?
Why make quilts while you can buy them for much cheaper?
Why make quilts?
I am reminded to find my why as I find myself trying to refocus for this second half-year. So I thought I might just write it up as a reminder to myself and to share with you the why behind the quilts.
Thinking of trying free-motion quilting but don’t know where to start?
And what tool(s) you would need?
Well, honestly there is only one tool that you need to get started.
and that is — the FREE MOTION QUILTING FOOT or a darning foot.
…of course you’ll need your sewing machine too but that is obvious right?
