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.
EPPing 9 blocks is an amazing amount of work. I loook at all those little pieces and am in admiration of your skill. Your blocks look lovely together (on IG) – excellent fabric choices.
The shot with the binding clips shows just how tiny these pieces are. Lovely fabric selections and looking forward to seeing Crystal ….. Reminds me of Crystal tips and Alistair, watch it on YouTube and get an ear worm!
EAR WORM!!!!!
Lovely block!!!! <3
I'm a huge fan of EPP. In fact, almost all my piecing is done this way. I greatly appreciate you sharing your trials and tips with us. Your block looks great..
As soon as I read Shaggy I got "it wasn't me" in my head! Love the carol block
It's a lovely block!
WOW, I am so happy to have found you and this particular post. I too am EPP ing my Farmer's Wife blocks and it is slow going. Some are a breeze and others are impossible for me. But I am improving so that is a positive. All these tips are helpful and thanks for generously sharing.
i have made the dear Jane quilt years ago during the Iraqi War (not civil War) using any method suitable to get the right look. I lived in Jane Stickle's neighborhood and challenges myself with the many small pieces in 1 block.I like Jane had minimal supplies to begin with. I am just learning EPP. I am glad I am doing things one step at a time. A friend has just stepped up to the idea of doing "Jane" in EPP.
I now have the "Farmer's Wife" almost finished in foundation piecing, so will need a different project to experiment on with EPP