Foundation Piecing Session 2: Materials Needed

The first thing you're going to need, of course, is a pattern, and there are lots and lots of them out there. And I'll be providing you with a download of the pattern I'm using. But this is one that's a free paper piecing pattern, again, from Carol Doak. You're gonna hear her name a lot, but this is something you can download. She has a number of free patterns online that you can download, that you can practice with, or just use to make a quilt. So you need your pattern. That's number one. Then you need something to print your pattern on. These are different types of foundation papers that you can purchase. These are from June Taylor. This one is from Collins, and they're all a different kind of paper that is made for foundation piecing. The Stitch 'n Wash actually dissolves. So when you're all done piecing a block, you put that in your sink with cold water, and you just kind of move it a little bit, and that just vanishes and goes on down the drain. So that's something that a lot of people really like. I don't use it very much, because of the technique that I use. And I'm, of course, gonna be showing that to you, but it is really useful for a lot of people. So you may wanna use it. These are foundation sheets. They're really like paper, but they're thin, kind of like a vellum. You can almost see through them. And one thing that I really like about them is that when they're printed on, the line where they're printed seems to somehow make them very easy to fold on the line. So that's another thing. I find these really, you know, really fun to use and they make things easier. But what I use most often is just plain, old printer paper, the stuff you buy, you know, in great big chunks at Costco, you know, you've got 144 million sheets. That's what I use most often. It's just what goes through the printer. So you need your paper, then this is the key. These are the magic right here. This is an Add-An-Eighth ruler, which I use for miniatures. And this is the Add-A-Quarter ruler. The Add-A-Quarter ruler is the one I'm gonna be using. And I wanna show you what it looks like in the packaging. Here's what it looks like out of the packaging. Now, mine has a little nick right here, which yours will not. Do not use your rotary cutter on the thin edge. See, you learn all kinds of things, don't you? But the Add-A-Quarter rulers make it possible to use this for this technique. There's Add-A-Quarter, this size, there are long ones. The Add-An-Eighth is for miniature quilts. The Add-Three-Eighths is for flannel. So when you need a bigger seam allowance. So that Add-A-Quarter is referring to the seam allowance. This is the magic right here. All right. I find it really useful to have a little cutting mat that I can have right between me and the machine, because you end up trimming, you're trimming every seam. That is a wonderful thing to have, along with a little rotary cutter. You don't have to have a little one. You can have the big one or a regular one. I wouldn't use a huge one, just for safety sake when you're doing little things, but that's what you need. You need those. You're gonna want either a wooden iron, or this is called a bone folder. It's just a, you know, a smoothing thing. So you can get a nice crease without having to have an actual iron right there. Although you could have a little iron if you wanted, but I find these work really well. Fray Check and glue. Now, this is fabric glue. It doesn't have to be fabric glue. You can use a regular old glue stick, because we're using the tiniest little bit. I've got the fabric glue stick. It's water-soluble 'cause I know it'll wash away. You're gonna want water-soluble, which, you know, if you get the kids glue stick at the store, it'll be water-soluble. Fray Check is wonderful stuff, because when you are paper piecing, you end up with a lot of biased edges. So before you put units together, you're gonna just seal that edge with a Fray Check, so it's not raveling away, all right? And then a stapler. I'll show you why later. A pen. Some kind of snips or little scissors, regular scissors. And I advise you to have a pair of fabric scissors and a pair of paper scissors. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, paper is lot harder on a pair of scissors than fabric is. So you don't wanna use your good scissors on paper, 'cause it'll ruin them. And then when you go back to use them on fabric, they're not gonna cut the way they did before. So go ahead and get, you know, whatever scissors you have in the kitchen drawer. Those can work on paper, keep your good fabric scissors for your fabric. And then you just need a ruler for squaring up, pins for when you're putting everything all together, and then your basic sewing supplies, your sewing machine, one needle that's new and fresh, and fabulous and ready to go, and one needle that's old and dull, and, you know, that you don't care about. This is a reason to keep those old needles. And then you just need fabric. Okay, so now you have your materials ready. You're gonna have to pick a project. And part of picking a project is knowing whether it's in your skill level. How easy is it? How hard is it? So I'm gonna show you how to look at that. When you're looking to pick a project, one thing that you would look at is how many pieces are there? In here, of course, they're numbered, and you can see they're just seven pieces. Well, that's isn't really very many for paper piecing, and they're good sized. This is an easy block. All right, simple. If you go into the "Quiltmaker 100 Blocks," and here are some of the piece blocks we were talking about. These are foundations for some of those blocks. As you can see, this foundation has a whole lot going on. When you get into like number 16, number 19, that's a more complex pattern. And I wouldn't start on a foundation like that if you're a beginner. Now, on something like this one, well, there are 10 sections. But do you see there? They're not really difficult. There aren't a lot of little things like there are here, all coming in together. So that one's probably okay. And if we look down here, this one, that's a nice, easy one. There are just for patches there. And there are just five here. Now, it is something that comes with two units. So that would be sewn to that, but that's not hard. So that's kind of giving you an idea. The more pieces there are, the smaller the piece is, the more difficult the pattern. Okay, now another thing is that, in different patterns, they kind of show you what order to sew in in different ways. So you've seen the ones that are numbered, which is what I do. And they're the most common ones, but here's one that uses letters. So A, B, C, et cetera, all the way out to H. And another thing that you can look for, is when you have patterns that are made of multiple units, so you would piece this one, and that, and that, and that, and then they're sewn together. Well, the more units you have, the more complex a pattern is going to be, because there are more things that have to be sewn together and aligned. So, and another thing that's different about this, you can see, in this pattern, they've actually colored the patches for you. So you can see what fabric would go where. So having the colors there makes it really easy when you're piecing, if you do a colored photocopy. But the thing is, I don't really think you want a color photocopy, because you don't want the color from the photocopy transferring over to your fabric. But it's a really good reference, when you're actually piecing, to look at that and see what color is where. Okay, so here's the little miniature book. Now, one of the things to think about when you're photocopying, which you will do, because, for instance, if you wanna make 10 of these, you need to make 10 little foundations. And that's for photocopying. What you need to do is to make sure that whatever photocopier you're using is actually giving you the size that's accurate, and handy-dandy ruler. Here we go. So I can look at this and I can measure, foundation eight. Okay, if I go right there, it's an inch and an eighth that way, and an inch and a 16th that way. You see that? So when I make a photocopy and bring it home, or when you're at the machine in a store or at home, do just one and measure it, and don't just measure one, measure several on the page, because believe it or not, some photocopiers actually skew. So the center might be okay, and the edges would be weird. Once you have it just right, and you know that maybe you needed to enlarge it a little bit to get the right size, then you make all your copies right then and there on the same machine, okay? If you make copies on one machine and you run out, you didn't make enough. And that can happen. Well, if you can't go back to the same machine, or even if you do, and it's been a few weeks, measure again, make sure it's right before you, you know, go ahead and copy everybody. All right. The same is true when you're downloading a foundation. When you're looking at a block, any block, you're gonna see a finished size. So let's take a look at this one. I know that this is for one 12-inch block. It's a 12-inch block. And if I'm looking here and look here, I can see that this is 1/4, okay? Well, that means this is gonna be a six-inch foundation. Of course, I can also measure it, but sometimes you can just, it's too complicated to see, because there are so many different pieces. And when that happens, what often you'll find is that on the pattern, on that piece, it'll give you a finished size, okay? Three by three finished. That is the finished, not with a seam allowance, but just the finished size. So again, there's what you're measuring. When you're downloading, you can get all kinds of skewing and scaling problems. Same thing. Look at what the pattern is supposed to be, how big or what the finished size should be, and make sure you're measuring before you run 'em all, okay? Now I wanted to show you this one. Okay, this is that rainforest pattern I showed you before. And I just wanted to show you how it goes together, because when you get into something that's this complicated, with this many blocks and this many sections, ah, okay, it's really easy. If you see this here, you see this section, it's numbered, which is just what you're used to, and then it labels it here. Milk snake section milk, woohoo, milk snake section, milk snake section. All right. We know what those are going for. Here, iguana spine, section five. And let's look at another one. Morpho butterfly, section one, section two and section three. And when you photocopy them, you're gonna actually have that information right there at the machine with you. So it might look a little complicated, but it really isn't. All right, just get those out of there. Okay, now, when you go to your photocopier, you're going to have a choice of papers. You can do, this is one of the foundation piecing papers that I like. This is the one that rinses away. It completely washes away. So, you know, you may want that. That's one type. This is the type that I use most often if I'm gonna use a purchase foundation, and, again, it's fairly sturdy. It goes right through the printer. No problem. And then plain, old, ordinary printer paper. This is my printer paper size from home. And that's all it is, just ordinary printer paper. So you're gonna want to try regular printer paper. You're gonna want to try the foundation paper, and just see what you like better. So go ahead and buy a packet of the foundation, so you can give her a try. Now, what if you wanna make a quilt, but you wanna make it bigger. See this block is really cool and it's really pretty, but I'm making a quilt for my son that's flannel. Well, I just couldn't see making such tiny pieces with flannel. So what I did is I went to Kinko's, and I had them enlarge it for me, just like that. And of course, same thing. You measure to make sure you have the right finish size. But if you take a look at this, you'll see this is the seam allowance. That's not a 1/4-inch. That's bigger than a 1/4 of an inch. That is almost 1/2 an inch, getting close. So what you're going to do when you go to sew this together, or even now, you can take your pen or pencil or whatever and draw in for yourself a proper 1/4-inch seam allowance. So I've got the 1/4-inch line on my ruler, right there on the line, just like that. And the reason you're going to do that is because when you're sewing, you need to have your seam come all the way out through that seam allowance. But if you're seam allowance is, you know, 3/8 of an inch, it's not gonna be where you want it. So that's all you have to do is draw in a new one. So if you enlarge it, remember, the finished size is what you're shooting for. That's what you're enlarging to. Then you can add your 1/4-inch seam allowance. All right. How about cutting? So let's say you have your pattern, and you know what you're gonna do, but now it's a matter of fabric. Okay. Well, many patterns will actually have a cutting list for you. And it will tell you, like this one, it says unit A, how many you're making per block. It lists the fabric, what section that's fabric is being used in, what to cut for that section and how many. So let's take a look at this one. All righty, this is... Let's get the right one. Get my clips off. For section A, unit A, okay, now I've already perforated this, which will make sense to you shortly, but there's my little piece all ready to go, or here's one that's not perforated, if you would prefer. I always perforate and you're gonna love it. Okay. You really are. Okay, so if I'm looking at unit A, and I have my cutting list here, I know that section one is the pedal fabric, which, in this case, is this kind of peachy fabric. There you go. And that's also section five and eight. So one, five and eight are all part of the flower fabric. Okay, so I know that I'm gonna be cutting those from this fabric just by looking at the chart, and I'll continue in that same way, how big they need to be, how many. It's pretty self-explanatory, and you're gonna come back to this. You're gonna be referring to this chart when you're actually sewing, because when you get to number two, oh, what color was that one supposed to be again? Now you're gonna have a photo of the block or a picture to look at, but it's so much easier. You're just gonna come here. Oh, okay, number two. It's the brown fabric, and it's that two and a 1/2 inch square, and you'll pull the right piece. So this is if you're actually cutting beforehand. And you'll see lots of patterns will give you a cutting list. I'll tell you how big to cut it, et cetera. But one of the best things about paper piecing, in my opinion, is you don't really have to cut unless you want to. Now, obviously, if I'm gonna make like 12 of the same block, yes, I cut, because it's more efficient use of fabric, but lots of times it's more fun to just kind of wing it. And I'm gonna show you how to do that. It's so fast, 'cause you don't have to cut first. You just whack it off and sew, and that's kind of my personality. So I'm gonna show you how to do that too. And okay, let's get this. One thing you will see, and I meant to show you, right here, it'll tell you to cut squares, which are then cut in half diagonally to make triangles. So keep an eye on those instructions. Now, excuse me, you'll see here... Okay, we'll take this square. It's not a square. It's just kind of a rough cut thing. And that's fine. This is one of the great things about paper piecing. You don't have to cut exactly. You don't have to sit there with a ruler. When it gives a size that you need to cut, all that means is cut at least that big. It doesn't have to be perfectly cut. That's one of the things that makes it fast, one of the things that makes it fun. I don't really, you know, I just don't like cutting. You have to be so perfect, and it's just very tedious to me. You don't have to do that. You just kind of, oh, well, I need like a four-inch square. Okay, well, I know it's at least four inches on the side, and I need to cut it in half diagonally. Okay, I'm just gonna take a regular old ruler. You know, rotary cutting ruler. Do not use something thin. You're gonna slice your hand off. Now, look at how quickly I do this and how incredibly casually. I'm not having to make sure it goes exactly to corner to corner. I can just kind of whack that off there, and whack across like that. There. They're not equal. They're a little strange. It doesn't matter as long as they're big enough. 'Cause they're all gonna get, you know, trimmed, and they'll be just right when they're done. So I know it might sound a little strange or a little scary, but that's how it works. And you can do the same thing with this. Now, one of the best ways I know to paper piece is to grab, maybe you have some strips leftover from a Jelly roll, and you are trying to make something that looks like, this one maybe. Is that gonna be big enough to cover that triangle? Yes, it is. And so when I'm actually sewing, when I'm at the machine I can just lop that, and put it where I want it, and go, okay. Well, one the things you're gonna find when you're working on patterns, when you're actually sewing, you're gonna find that you have a lot of fabric left. You know, you're gonna sew it on and flip it. And it's like, whoa, look at all that fabric. Why is that such a big piece? Because sometimes when you're looking at pattern in a magazine, it's like, why did they have me cut such a huge piece? And this is why. When you are sewing like that, something like this or one of these, what happens is you sew on the line, and then you flip it open. Okay, so, you know you need that 1/4-inch seam allowance along here, right? Let's say for number five. I'm looking at number five. It doesn't look like a very big piece, does it? But I know that I'm sewing here. So I need at least a 1/4 of an inch on this side, right? And then when I'm sewing, I am gonna flip it. It has to come to here plus this distance, which is gonna be more than a 1/4 of an inch, 'cause it's not, you know, it's not perpendicular. It's gonna be further. And I need to have a little extra wiggle room. And in paper piecing, I always add 1/2 an inch to each side, not just 1/2 an inch total. So what I would do, when I'm trying to decide how big to cut this, and you'll see all the little holes from the perforation. If that's distracting, I'll pull one over here that hasn't been perforated. Let's see. Oh, we'll do this guy. Same thing. Okay. We're gonna look at number eight. Now, it has to be able to go past this seam allowance, all right? You have to have stitching beyond the seam allowance. And for this guy, because of the angle, it's way out here, okay? So if I'm gonna measure this to see how big of a piece I need for eight, I need to first give that 1/4-inch, once to the side for the seam allowance. Okay, there, I've got 1/4-inch right there. Do you see that, that 1/4-inch line? Then I have to come all the way to that point and beyond, okay? The absolute minimum, if I sewed it perfectly, it would be an inch and a 1/2. Well, I'm gonna add to that. I'm gonna give it that finished size, plus 1/2 an inch on each side. So it finishes at one inch, and I'm gonna thus make it two inches. So I'm gonna cut that at two inches wide and then this direction, it's very similar. I'm just gonna extend that out. That's gonna go like here. Okay, so it needs to go at least that far. Well, if you're measuring, this is three inches finished. So it's three and a 1/2 from there to there. Add a full inch, four and a 1/2. So that's how I would cut this two inches by four and a 1/2. But how about something that's not on the edge? Something weird like number two. Okay, well, one of the things you know is that you're gonna be sewing on the seam between one and two. This is your stitching line for number two. So it needs it seam allowance over here, you need at least a 1/4-inch that side. And one of the things people do that's mistake is you might measure this and go, oh, okay, well, 1/4-inch there and there. I only an inch and a 1/2 by two inches. Well, maybe, except that's not how you're sewing. You're stitching here and flipping. So you need to measure from here, going out here. And again, you need to go way out here beyond that point, which is not a straight 1/4-inch, 'cause it's not perpendicular. So if I measure that 1/4-inch here, remember, this is my minimum, and I go all the way out to here, do you see how all of a sudden that's two inches? It's two inches with no wiggle room. So I would go ahead, and because the finished is about one and a 1/2, I'd cut it two and a 1/2 that direction. And how about the other direction? Okay, well, here's the point. You see that? That little point there. And I'm gonna come all the way out, and I have to think about this seam allowance. So just to draw that in for you, here's the seam allowance for this guy. And look how far out it goes when it intersects with this seam allowance. Do you see that? Look how far out that is. When I measure, it's gonna go way out here. So I'm putting that back on, my ruler back on. Again, I've got a 1/4-inch. My 1/4-inch point on the ruler is right there at that point, 'cause that's the absolute minimum. But look how far out that is. That's the minimum. It's almost two inches that way. So again, I would add on. I would figure, okay, two inches is the absolute minimum, and that's including my seam allowances. I would give that two and a 1/2, and write them down. You always write down what sizes you wanna cut. So when you're figuring something at home, it hasn't already told you a cut size, or if you're looking at these cut sizes, like yikes, that's way too big, 'cause it looks huge, doesn't it? Two and 1/2 inches by two and 1/2 inches. That looks enormous. But once you understand the seam allowances, and the fact that it's going way out here on an angle that isn't a 90-degree angle, you'll understand why they have to be big. And after awhile, when you're used to doing this, when you've been paper piecing for awhile, you'll find you maybe don't need to be that big, and you could maybe cut it back a little bit. If you are concerned about wasting fabric, go ahead and piece a few blocks or units first, and then decide if you maybe want to, you know, you could maybe not cut quite as big patch, and go ahead and change for you. So that is certainly something you can do. So I think we're ready to start the perforation in our next little segment, and I'll show you why perforating is really great. So remember, when you photocopy, make sure you've got that finished size correct on the copies you're getting. Photocopy onto regular paper, if you want to perforate. It just makes life so much easier, and I'll show you why. If you're up-sizing, check that seam allowance, and take a look and see how complicated a pattern is before you get started. All right? So I'll be back next time. And we'll get started on the actual sewing.