Sunday 17 July 2011

Come Hex-a-long with me!

A new summer quilt-along group has started up, by Lynne (Lily's Quilts) and Gayle (Gayle Brindley's Blog).

The idea is to get familiar again with the age old patchworking technique called English Paper Piecing (EPP).

EPP is hand sewing pieces of fabric over paper shapes (e.g. diamond, square, triangle, hexagon etc.), then hand sewing the shapes together before finally removing the paper inserts.

I have fond memories of paper piecing when I first started my City and Guilds Textile & Design course.  EPP was the very first thing we did.  

Early works! My college samples - hexies

Triangles

Diamonds

Scallops - my least favourite!
I discovered a joy in hand sewing that I didn't know existed.

It's lovely to be re-inspired by this traditional technique, especially with all the wonderful new designs and fabrics that are around at the mo.

And this is the perfect project to pack away and take on holiday - compact, quick, easy, transportable, perfect!

The Hex-a-long will focus on paper piecing hexagons and this is the inspiration quilt that started it:
“Candied Hexagons” by Liz from Broderie
Fancy joining in? 

Check out the flickr group for more stunning projects & ideas and then join the Lily's Quilts group.  

See you there!

7 comments:

  1. Looks like great fun, wish I had more time! LOVE your new banner - must try to revamp mine!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've never done EPP before, still havent tried Paper Piecing yet either... but I have a stack of "traditional" prints I've wanted to use for a hexie quilt for a long time so I'm hoping this will be the chance! Looking forward to someone doing an absolute beginner's tute!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love those triangles! Scallops not so much either!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Not keen on those scallops either, funny isn't it?

    Joining in this HAL but need to decide on fabric.........

    ReplyDelete
  5. Can't wait to see what amazing hexies you put together for this one! Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Have fun. I'll be watching from the sidelines. The girls are pressuring me to get their quilts done and to stop doing new things.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love EPP, I have scallops in Japanese fabrics as my ongoing portable project!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment. I really appreciate it & I will always reply. (If you don't get a reply from me it is because you are a 'no reply comment' blogger. You might want to change your blog settings to make sure folks can reply to your comments more easily.) Jxo