I finished my first English Paper Pieced quilt last week, and have been busily working on writing and illustrating a pattern to go along with it. Both are now finished, and the love that I feel for this quilt has spilled over into the pattern, as I love it as well. Very colorful just like the quilt and fully illustrated with easy to follow step-by-step instructions. I've also included photos, lots of helpful tips, quilting and binding advice, a coloring sheet and of course a full size printable template.
The piecing of this patchwork quilt was totally relaxing. Because the individual pieces are sort of "pre-assembled" the piecing seemed almost effortless.
(See that photo above? Well, I've been wanting to get a shot of myself hand stitching for ages... hard to do with only two hands! I finally got this one which I originally posted on Instagram, by using a shoelace to hang my phone camera around my neck and then used the timer feature so I had a chance to position my hands. Where there is a will, there is a way!)
(See that photo above? Well, I've been wanting to get a shot of myself hand stitching for ages... hard to do with only two hands! I finally got this one which I originally posted on Instagram, by using a shoelace to hang my phone camera around my neck and then used the timer feature so I had a chance to position my hands. Where there is a will, there is a way!)
Here is a close up of the hand stitched seams. The circles are stitched in, not appliquéd on, and the pattern fully illustrates how to do it. (Really rather simple!)
I think the most challenging part of this project for me was coming up with a quilt design that I liked. It took several attempts, and some ripping out of stitches in between, but finally I hit on something that really worked. (The photo above was also taken on my phone as well, but late at night with poor lighting. Still you can see the quilted motifs pretty well.)
I found it helped me to print out a line drawing of my quilt block and simply do some pen and ink doodles on it, trying out different ideas and how the stitch movement would flow. That little exercise helped loosen me up and think more creatively about my quilting.
The finished result reminds me of a vividly colored press tin ceiling... not that I have ever seen a vividly colored press tin ceiling, but if there were to be one this might be what it would look like!
Now onto my next EPP project... I think I am hooked!
Have a great week everyone!