Foundation Paper piecing tutorial...

               Today I am going to do my best at giving you a tutorial on paper piecing. There are a ton out there, but I remember when I was first looking, I couldn't find a tutorial that made it crystal clear to me. Hopefully at least I can answer those questions that I had, for you here today.

We have had a our block of the month series, and for September we are doing paper piecing. So here goes...

First, you will need a template. There are a million online. I chose The Lone Starburst from Six White Horses. You will need to download the template and print it. For this block, I had to print 4 copies. 

Start with segment A, each segment will be numbered through 7. (or different for what you choose to make)

The basic idea here, is that you are sewing the finished block to the back of the template.  One numbered space at a time.You need a scrap of fabric that is at least 1/4" bigger than space 1, on each side of all the black lines. (including the left bottom that isn't covered in the photo.) Place wrong side of fabric to the back of the template covering space 1.  Now you need a scrap of fabric for space 2. (that will cover space 3 and 4 by at least 1/4" too) . You place fabric for space 2 right sides together with space 1 fabric, stitch, then fold space 2 fabric over space 2. See below.

(if that seemed wordy and confusing, hopefully the photos will clear it up)

By putting your scraps up to a window, you will be able to see that both the scraps of fabric go into space 2 by at least 1/4". After you stitch the line, you will fold and space 2 fabric (white) over space 2. See below.

 Here is the back of the template now (finished side of quilt block). Now trim 1/4" from stitch line, fold over and iron into the next space.  You will do this for all numbered template spaces.

If you are doing this at night, or don't like holding it up to the window, you can fold along the line you will be stitching. This lets you see where you need to place your next fabric scrap. (be sure place scrap at least 1/4" over the fold)

Continue for all numbered spaces. You are ready for the last step.

When you are done, it will look like this. Trim 1/4" from template edge. This pattern  has the 1/4" seam allowance grayed out. Not all patterns to this, so make sure you leave that allowance for when you sew the whole block together.

Looking nice and sharp. Do this for all segments of your block. This one has 8 segments.

Getting pretty? Now arrange them, and sew together with 1/4" seam. 

This is what your back looks like. Now you get to tear off all your papers. Be careful, you don't want to stretch your block, or tear out stitches. I never have too hard of a time doing this, the lines are already torn a bit by your stitches.

 You are finished! Let me know if you have any questions. 

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