Come Stitch With Me

Supplies:

There are a myriad of ways to do English Paper Piecing (EPP).

I prefer glue basting, but hate sticky fingers, so I carry baby wipes for clean up.

I use a combination of Wonder clips and Sew-Tites to hold my pieces in place while I stitch.

Needles: Size 11 Milliners

*Thread: Deco-Bob (80 wt) from Wonderfil in Antique White or Nude

Thimble- vintage sterling silver thimble bought at Renningers Mt. Dora Flea Market many years ago.

Needle threader – a must have for me nowadays!

Scissors – Tiny snips from Tacony work great in my travel EPP kit

Papers – 1″ hexies from Paper Pieces.

Glue pen/refill – Sew Line is preferred, but I have used purple disappearing glue stick in a pinch

*Personally, I think polyester thread holds up better than a cotton thread when it comes to EPP. I’ve tried them all from 50wt to 100wt, cotton to silk to polyester. 80wt DecoBob from Wonderfil is my favorite, but it can be hard to find, Check your LQS for 60 wt from Superior Threads or Quilter’s Select. Some big box craft stores also carry a 60 wt from Coats & Clark (often referred to as fine thread). Any of these should give you satisfactory results.

Cutting fabric for EPP

1″ hexie papers is a very common size. This is what I’m currently using. Fabric for this size hexie is usually cut from a 2-1/2″ strip. Mini-charm packs (pre-cut 2-1/2″ squares) work great. If you think you might want to do some fussy cutting of your fabrics, then investing in a hexie acrylic template is well worth it. I purchased mine from Paper Pieces. The mini cutting mat is 4″ square (one this size that turns would be ideal). I use a 28mm for cutting fabrics with my hexie template.

Here’s the difference in using pre-cut hexies versus pre-cut squares when basting over the paper template:

There’s absolutely no difference on the front – the only difference is how things look on the back. Mini-charms are SO convenient, but I’ll admit I much prefer the look of the pre-cut hexies on the back. I might even be tempted to thread baste my hexies if the edges were all even like this. 🙂

Tip (see pic #3 in slideshow): If you stitch like I do using the flat back method, don’t glue all the way to the edges of the paper. Leave a slight gap between your glue line and the edge of the paper. It will make your work easier to stitch and lay flatter once stitched.

EPP makes a great take-along project, especially if you precut your fabrics. My supplies travel in a 7″x11″ box from Craft Options. This box is only 1-1/2″ deep and I find this size works best for me. I place the box in my lap, using the top as a work surface. If traveling by air, I remove the rotary cutter and add a mechanical pencil and small pair of scissors in case I need to cut fabric using the acrylic template.

This is a variation of a Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt that my mother-in-law’s grandmother made before my MIL was born. This queen-size quilt is one of my MIL’s most cherished possessions. It was a treat to see and study it up close.

I compared the fabrics in the quilt with my fabric dating guides published by AQS. I also looked at the block construction, quilting and binding. This quilt was made from old clothing, curtains, tablecloths, sheets, dishtowels and whatever else was available at the time. Some of the scraps dated to the early 1900s, but most were from the 1920s – 1940s. The majority of the blocks were probably made by my MIL’s grandmother, but the quilt was most likely completed by someone else.

Why do I think this?

The GFG blocks are two different sizes. Most of the blocks were made by the same skilled quilter, with fabrics carefully chosen to coordinate and precisely stitched together. The remaining blocks were made from larger hexagons with random color placement and not as precise hand-stitching. It could be that my MIL’s grandmother made the blocks over many years and the larger blocks were made toward the end of her life when her hand-stitching was less precise. However, I really think someone else made the remaining blocks due to (1) differences in stitching and (2) some fabrics dating to the late 1940’s/early 1950’s in the quilt when compared to my AQS guides. The primary quilt maker passed away in the early 1940s and probably left an uncompleted quilt top. To me, it appears as if someone else pieced additional blocks from scraps and added those blocks to get the top to a certain size, then hand quilted it and had the purple binding applied/sewn by machine. The backing fabric is a single flat sheet.

Vintage quilts are always a mystery and all we can do is look at the clues to try to uncover the story the quilt is trying to tell us.

I was at QuiltCon 2023 earlier today. Several folks from my Friday sewing group wanted to go on a field trip to QuiltCon. Some of us went today and a larger group is going tomorrow.

I spent about a 1/2 day looking at quilts and walking the vendor floors. Yes, floors as in more than one. This was the biggest vendor hall I think I’ve ever seen during my 3 trips to QuiltCon. I counted just under 100 vendors on the vendor listing.

The quilts and special displays were interesting. Some of the quilts were out there – as they usually are at QuiltCon. I liked the Best in Show quilt. It’s quite striking from a distance. There were so many people in front of it that I couldn’t get a good picture. Be sure to check out the quilts from the Brown Sugar Stitchers Quilt Guild, too, if you go.

Fabric, thread, notions, sewing machines, long-arm machines, books, guilds, furniture, sewing machine repair/restoration – it was all represented. There were plenty of in-booth make & take opportunities. I thoroughly enjoyed embroidering my own nametag at the Spoonflower booth and adding a few stitches to various projects set up around the vendor hall. Ruby Star Society was jam packed with people (not surprising as Melody Miller is ATL based), as were several of the booths of companies that cater to the MQG crowd. I had nice conversations with Cindy Cloward of Riley Blake Designs, Christa Watson and Andi Barney of Sewing Doc Academy. I shared a picture of the Metamorphosis memory quilt I made from Hawaiian shirts with the designer at Lo & Behold Stitchery. Of course, I had to find the booth for my ladies at the SQTM (pictured above). I also ran across the booth of The Cotton Farm (Sadie’s former quilty home) and Charlene stated they were selling out of everything – as in not finding a new retail location. 😦

I indulged in a little retail therapy – a sample pack of SewTites Lite (designed for people like me who have a hard time prying the darn things apart) and a Quilters Rule sticker for my Elnita EC30. Now, all three of my travel/teaching machines have the same sticker on them (and it matters to the kids for some crazy reason!). Vendors were happy to load me up with freebie stickers for my sewing kiddos.

Happy I came today for a quick visit, but also glad I listened to my gut and declined to volunteer or sign-up for classes. (As expected, a big family event did get scheduled for this weekend!) Yes, crime is still bad city-wide, but I felt very safe in the parking garage and all along the route to the AmericasMart where the event’s being held. Police presence was visible. There were volunteers and security guards stationed everywhere at the show. Would I do an evening event? No way as a commuter, but yes if I was staying at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel.

Here’s looking ahead to QuiltCon 2024 in Raleigh, NC!