Oh my goodness, I'm so excited to try English Paper Piecing. After spotting Cambervillethreads fun and vibrant Christmas stocking online, I watched a bunch of videos and devoured
Cambervillethreads "Christmas Hexie Stocking Sew Along" blog posts. In total there are 5 in depth posts with tons of photos.
For starters, what is EPP? English Paper Piecing is a hand sewing technique that utilizes geometric paper pieces wrapped in fabric that are later stitched together to create a design. I love the slow nature of EPP and I don't need a ton of supplies to get started. But let's be real, I have a huge weakness for cute scrapbook paper and in essence fabric is just scrapbook paper in disguise. lol!
Before I leaped into this project I did the responsible thing and bought a fat quarter (fabric) to make sure I enjoyed the process. Cutting paper hexagons, cutting fabric, wrapping the cut fabric and basting it to the paper hexagon, and sewing the pieces together. I only did a few and I'm like, "I can do this... LET'S DO IT!!!" Here is my current selection of fabric from various places (Prairie Points, Hobby Lobby, Walmart). I did struggle finding colorful character motifs that fit a 1" hexagon. I may have to resort to shopping online or possibly design my own fabric. In the meantime I have these adorable kitties. <3 So yeah, my goal is to create 2 stockings and a duvet cover. A duvet cover felt more doable because I don't have to worry about the quilt/batting aspect. For the back of the duvet I'll use a sheet with a print that blends well the hexie colors.
As of right now, I have hand cut 500+ hexagons. I used
Cambervillethreads FREE printable. From what I've read online, the best weight paper for EPP is 67lbs. Sturdy and can easily be pierced with a needle for basting. You can also buy precut shapes and a special glue stick for basting, but I chose not to. For basting I used basic all purpose thread, something I had in my stash. However, I did purchase special thread to sew the fabric hexies together. The lovely lady at Prairie Points recommended Mettler silk-finish Cotton merc. Ne 50/3. I got it in grey because it's neutral. Now I don't have to stress about what color thread will work best since I have so many bold colors.
Since all my 1" paper hexagons are cut, it's time for fabric to wrap around 1" hexies. I made a larger hexagon template (approx. 1.5") and I traced it on the back of the fabric with a pencil. There are so many other ways to do this step, I picked this way so I could meticulously line the hexies together to get the most out of my fabric, lol. The only fabric I won't be able to do that on is the cat fabric. I need their adorable faces centered. <3
