Day 308: English paper piecing has earned a spot on the list of "Things I Wish I'd Learned Earlier." I'd always thought of it as being too fussy, too much work with all that basting, too wasteful, too much trouble having to pick all the little paper pieces out when a quilt was finished. As it turns out, the fussiness is automatic (i.e., corners match up perfectly because the fabric is wrapped over same-size pieces). The basting goes much more quickly than expected and doesn't have to be pulled out. There is virtually no waste because the papers can be reused until the edges become too worn. As for pulling them out, they can be removed as soon as all the sides of a given piece are stitched to another piece, and they come out easily, even those glue-basted to the larger pieces. These 9-patches are utterly addictive! After basting 5 prints and 4 whites, I select the print I want for the middle and stitch a white to either end of it. Then I make two more strips with prints on the ends and a white in the middle, and apply them to either side of the center strip. The paper in the middle print can then be removed because it is entirely surrounded. The pinpoint accuracy of EPP is what appeals to me the most. Any variation in the length of the sides of the shapes is minor, very minor, and can be eased when stitching the pieces together. My husband was a faceter, and was meticulous about "meets," i.e., the points made when the cut faces of a stone come together. "Meets" applies to quilting in the same way. EPP makes meets foolproof! If only I had known about EPP fifty years ago. I might never have made a quilt any other way.
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