Since my Blueberry Delight fabric arrived, I wasted no time in starching it and assembling my paper piecing supplies. I am very gung ho to get started on this Petit Four project. Supplies: What you need is a glue stick of some kind (I am using a Sewline glue stick, but a kid's school glue stick works fine too), a rotary cutter, an Add a Quarter seam ruler, a seam roller, and a small cutting mat. I also set up my iPad to help me with my fabric selection for the blocks.
For the first eight blocks, I am using the Courthouse Steps foundation paper.
The instructions are great, telling you just how many strips to cut for the block. I cut several fabrics at once, so the cutting went pretty fast.
The sewing is easy too, you just position the fabric carefully and sew on the appropriate line in numerical order. The paper is even shaded so you are sure to place your lights and darks in the right place. Be sure to use a very short stitch when you sew on foundation paper. My machine is set at 1.5 stitch length.
As you go, you flip the fabric strips, trim to a quarter-inch seam allowance, and press flat.
The first block took longer while I was getting up to speed, but the next ones went quickly. I love how perfect paper-pieced blocks turn out!
If you are interested in watching a foundation piecing video tutorial, Kimberly from Fatquarter Shop has several on YouTube. Here is the Courthouse Steps tutorial. She had a rather elaborate routine of creasing her foundation paper on every stitching line, which I did not do as I could not see why it was necessary. Otherwise, I followed her instructions.
Hope you are all having a great week. It's been a very slow week for comments, so I'd love to hear your experience with paper piecing! I'm beginning to wonder if anyone besides Jan, Anita, Sally, Mary, and Ina are reading my blog. Have you tried foundation paper piecing? Do you think it is intimidating?