NOTE : I no longer promote Craftsy/Bluprint as I used to due to the way the subscription is currently being carried out. I had the issue of cancelling my subscription when the company changed hand and I find that cancelling through calls is inconvenient. However, I do still stand behind these classes I promote and if you are subscribed, you can surely check these classes I recommend on the platform. If you are looking for another online platform to learn craft such as quilting, do check out CreativeBug. It is much cheaper in subscription (subscribe now 3 months for only $5). Thank you.
I am sharing with you today how I quilted block 8 – Clay’s Choice.
As usual, I have two blocks made for two quilts, one with custom quilting and one with allover quilting. Both would be a great practice if you are looking towards improving your free-motion skill. I am still practicing myself, especially with the custom quilting. I am learning as I go, so let’s do this together!
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 time to time.
Let’s be honest here, I have a problem with too many (way many) works in progress. Ahakz.
NOTE : I no longer promote Craftsy/Bluprint as I used to due to the way the subscription is currently being carried out. I had the issue of cancelling my subscription when the company changed hand and I find that cancelling through calls is inconvenient. However, I do still stand behind these classes I promote and if you are subscribed, you can surely check these classes I recommend on the platform. If you are looking for another online platform to learn craft such as quilting, do check out CreativeBug. It is much cheaper in subscription (subscribe now 3 months for only $5). Thank you.
I am sharing with you today how I quilted block 7 – Dove in the Window.
As usual, I have two blocks made for two quilts, one with custom quilting and one with allover quilting. Both would be a great practice if you are looking towards improving your free-motion skill. I am still practicing myself, especially with the custom quilting. I am learning as I go, so let’s do this together!
Some links provided here are affiliate links for your convenience. Please find my full disclosure here.
Quilt as you go
Quilt as you go block-by-block, is one method you could opt for when you want to make quilting large quilts on your domestic machine feasible. It is one of my go-to methods especially if I want to skip the heavy work pushing through large quilts within my machine throat space.
Besides, I love the fact that I can easily finish blocks by blocks and even have a fancy backing like this one I made earlier. If you are interested to learn how I piece the block together, here is one way how to do it – using small sashing strips.
Allover Quilting Motif: Spirals
For the allover quilting, I chose to do the spirals. Spiral is possibly one of the basic motifs that I like to go for when choosing a design to quilt.
Spiral quilting gives a lot of movement to the quilt and I think that is one of the reason it is one of my favourite motifs.
Spirals can easily be mixed together with other motifs and design to create more textures and movement. I love mixing it together with pebbles and wavy lines. However, to keep this block in uniform with the other blocks, I stick to a single motif for the block with an allover spiral design.
Here is the basic how to make spiral allover quilting.
How to free motion quilt spirals
You will need:
Pen and Paper
Free motion quilting foot. Read here for more detail info which foot is best.
The right needle. I suggest using top stitch needle as it has a larger eye to avoid wearing off your thread.
I do suggest you try this pattern with pen and paper first. This will give you the idea on how the final look will be, how you are to navigate from one place to another, and how the motion is.
After having the confidence practicing on paper, you can move onto free motion quilting on scrap fabric basted with leftover batting. This is to ensure you have good tension and have a good sense of moving your quilt in the direction you want it to go. Then you can move onto quilting your block.
Here is the finished block with the spiral quilting.
make sure you pin this to try them later!
Custom free motion quilting on quilt as you go blocks
For the other quilt, each block is going to be custom quilted, which means each will be designed accordingly with the block pattern.
The benefit of using quilt-as-you-go block is that it is so much easy to maneuver with small blocks and custom quilting is made easier under the throat of a domestic machine. Plus, your shoulder should thank you too!
I planned the custom quilting using Sharon Holland’s colouring page which Sharon Holland and Maureen Cracknell have available for download in the Intro section. I simply view them in magnified mode on my screen and crop each block into JPG on its own (You can use (shift+command+4 on Mac) or use snips in Microsoft.
Then, I printed the block individually and plan out the quilting with pencils. While doing it with the pencil I also plan how will I be moving the needle from one place to another.
Marking on the block for free motion quilting for quilt as you go blocks
You will need:
Hera marker
Water erasable pen
Quarter inch ruler
On the quilt block, make sure custom quilting are made within the finished block size – which means, you have to mark a 1/4″ frame line from the block seams. This is to ensure that when joining the blocks together, the quilting does not get covered by the seams.
You can mark using a Hera marker or an erasable .
For this block, I decided to try out dot-to-dot quilting technique and skip marking anything on the block itself. I made an orange peel centre using this very technique I learned from Angela’s Class.
As for the flying geese, I decided to leave them popping up by dense quilting the background with matchstick quilting.
Since there is no border in this block, I decided to put the feather element in the four corners to sync with all the previous blocks.
NOTE : I no longer promote Craftsy/Bluprint as I used to due to the way the subscription is currently being carried out. I had the issue of cancelling my subscription when the company changed hand and I find that cancelling through calls is inconvenient. However, I do still stand behind these classes I promote and if you are subscribed, you can surely check these classes I recommend on the platform. If you are looking for another online platform to learn craft such as quilting, do check out CreativeBug. It is much cheaper in subscription (subscribe now 3 months for only $5). Thank you.
Well, if you decide to join along or have any questions, drop me a comment. I will be happy to help where I can! In the meantime, you can also check these free motion quilting tips!
Click here to related Archive posts.
until next time, have fun sewing and quilting!
NOTE : I no longer promote Craftsy/Bluprint as I used to due to the way the subscription is currently being carried out. I had the issue of cancelling my subscription when the company changed hand and I find that cancelling through calls is inconvenient. However, I do still stand behind these classes I promote and if you are subscribed, you can surely check these classes I recommend on the platform. If you are looking for another online platform to learn craft such as quilting, do check out CreativeBug. It is much cheaper in subscription (subscribe now 3 months for only $5). Thank you.
For more dot-to-dot quilting ideas, I highly recommend this Craftsy Class!
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.
NOTE : I no longer promote Craftsy as I used to due to the way the subscription is currently being carried out. I had the issue of cancelling my subscription when the company changed hand and I find that cancelling through calls is inconvenient. However, I do still stand behind these classes I promote and if you are subscribed, you can surely check these classes I recommend on the platform. If you are looking for another online platform to learn craft such as quilting, do check out CreativeBug. It is much cheaper in subscription (subscribe now 3 months for only $5). Thank you.
Have you heard the awesome event coming soon from Craftsy + Cricut?
FREE 24 hours access to 1200+ craftsy classes! Yup- that is right all classes (well most classes) for FREE!
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…
Various English Paper Piecing Basting Method
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.
1. Stitch/Sew basting onto both fabrics and paper
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.
2. Stitch/Sew basting on fabrics only not 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:
3. Glue Basting
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.
4. Starch Basting
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.
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.
Which method do you use? Not listed here?
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.
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…
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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.
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.
or an erasable 
.
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