Farmer’s Wife 1930s QAL – Carolina!

Yes I am English Paper Piecing my blocks and therefore have only made 9 so far! Carolina is block 19 so I am 10 adrift. Hopefully I will catch up over Christmas.

I wanted to show you how I go about prepping a block.

I am using the Foundation Paper Piecing print-outs for my templates as this is much more economical with paper. I am making Carol above which is one big square and many small triangles which are all the same size. Therefore I can completely ignore the numbers and letters on the templates. The important thing is having the right number of triangles, which the FPP sheet will give you.

Rather than cutting out my fabric pieces individually I glue each one to the wrong side of the fabric, leaving at least a half inch between each piece. Then I cut them out with scissors (if I am doing this in front of the TV) or sometimes with rotary cutter (if I am in my sewing room). Then I finish glue basting each piece individually.

I find binding clips are invaluable for holding the larger EPP pieces together while sewing, like the centre square and corner triangles above. You can manage to hold the smaller pieces together easily but these larger pieces need to be secure before sewing and pins are not easy to use through all the layers.

When I’ve finished sewing a take all the papers out, opening the outside block seams right out, and press my block. Then I trim using it using my ruler.