The Paper Piecing Plunge Tutorial

Continuation of "The Paper Piecing Plunge" now complete with pictures! I am a visual learner, eventually I hope to have videos :)

To paper piece "Circle of Geese"

To begin paper piecing you need a pattern of course. This one is courtesy of Craftsy.com, 2012 BOM, which they got courtesy of Beth of Peicebynumber.com 

Some people like to perforate (sew with an un-threaded needle at a low stitch length) before starting so that the paper tears away easily at the end. I tried this and found the paper fell apart before I attached my fabric! Now I simply use a stitch length of 1.0 while I attach the paper and fabrics together and I find the paper tears away with no problem when finished. This is just my personal preference, do what works best for you!

My printer decided to hate me, so I simply traced it using my husbands laptop.

 G= goose fabric B=background fabric

Pattern piece, double check your lines when tracing!

Next we will trim down the paper with craft scissors to 1/4 inch around the square. 

This is also when I pre-cut my pieces. When you are pre-cutting your pieces make sure to make them approximately half an inch larger on all sides of the shape you are sewing. This will allow you lots of fold over, and seam allowance space. 

All the pieces pre-cut and in order to sew

Now to start the block we will take one of our "geese" fabrics and place it right-side down (we only put the first fabric right side down) underneath the piece marked "1", as in the first piece to place. Feel free to pin or glue that fabric in place. 

Right side down only got the first fabric.

Now we will fold the pattern on the line between piece "1 G" and piece "2 B". We then trim what will be the seam allowance for the join between pieces 1 and 2. 

Trim seam allowance where you fold

Next we will align our next fabric (which happens to be a background piece, the piece marked 2 B), right side up (or right sides together). 

Now we unfold our paper pattern, keeping our fabrics together (feel free to pin) and we sew on the line between piece 1 and 2. 

After we are done sewing that line, we are going to flip over our pattern and trim the seam allowances on the stitching line we just sewed. Then we are going to press our work so far. 

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Now we repeat these steps for the rest of the block. Pin paper pattern back onto the line you will sew next. Place the next fabric right side up with the last fabric you sewed. Unfold paper, sew on the line, trim seam allowance, press, continue on.

                                                

Now it is time to square up the block and tear away the paper after the final press. I find that pressing, then tearing, then re-pressing works best. 

Remember to give yourself that quarter-inch for seam allowance all the way around the block. 

                  

We will then assemble 4 of the same blocks and attach them together to make a full Flying Geese traditional block!

Happy stitching! Hope this was helpful, shoot me an e-mail or comment if you have any questions.