Practically Paper Piecing Blog Hop – Starts today!

Welcome to the first stop on the Practically Paper Piecing Blog Hop (henceforth referred to as the PPP blog hop, to save me typing and also so I can use the word “henceforth”).

-Giveaway now closed-

This is going to be a fabulous month dedicated to inspiring you with paper pieced projects! The goal is to show a whole bunch of different ideas of things to do with paper pieced blocks. Because let’s be honest, making an entirely paper pieced quilt isn’t everyone’s cup of tea! Sometimes it’s fun just to make one block. Hopefully you’ll also come across some fab paper pieced patterns you might not have tried before.

Do you need more convincing to join along? One word. Giveaways. Really, need I say more? Okay I will. There will be giveaways happening throughout the blog hop, plus a bunch of goodies at the end of the month – where it’ll be your turn to show your paper pieced project in a linky party.  So get inspired and get making! :)

So it all sounds like fun right? Then let’s get started! I have a small project to kick off the blog hop! A zip pouch! Of course it means you might need to paper piece on a smaller scale, but everyone loves a challenge right?!


This project is made with scraps! Yay scraps! That’s a great thing about paper piecing – scraps are very handy (okay so you may make as many scraps as you use – but hey, more paper piecing! Woo!).

So details:

Pattern is the umbrella block which you can find here. The pattern has three versions of brollies. Mine is the no point version for simplicity’s sake, and also scaled down to half the size, making it 4”. Without the points, it was quite easy to put together.

Fabric is Half Moon Modern by Moda. Do you love it or what? I do. I wish I had more. Like oodles more. The inside of the pouch is A Happy Rainy Day by Newcastle fabrics. I picked this little FQ up from Wrapped in Fabric. Suited my theme perfectly!




Zip pouch tutorial – I started doing one to share with you but seriously, why reinvent the wheel? Especially when Fiona of Finding Fifth has a much clearer tutorial than I could have hoped to do! Lots of great pictures and clear instructions. Okay full disclosure: my zip pouch came out squished and not so pretty when I tried it “my” way and had to be unpicked. All of it. But it did come out pretty and bright and happy when I did it Fiona’s way. Seriously – trust the tutorial!

So for this little project – all you need is a paper pieced block and some strippy scraps. (Not stripper scraps – God forbid what they might look like). My scraps are off cuts from a charm pack. I’m so not an improv girl but there was something quite liberating about just sewing them all together without cutting perfectly! The back is more of the same, but without the brolly.



I pieced until I had two rectangles measuring 7 x 5 (had to add a little extra at the bottom)then cut the lining pieces to the same size. Mine is a smaller zip pouch than the tutorial, but all the instructions on how to put it together work the same. The putting-it-together part – I followed Fiona’s tutorial – from “Zipper Preparation” on . I chose not to add a pocket, or batting to this little pouch but that’s just my personal preference.



Now here’s a tip I learned the hard way. Make sure your zipper is SMALLER than the pouch pieces. If it’s the same size or bigger, it is really hard to sew the side seams and keep your buffers intact (those cute little aqua tab thingies at the ends of the zip). As in unpick-it-and-make-it-again hard. Been there, done that, littered the house with unpicked thread.

It really is an easy and relatively quick project if you follow directions well hehe. Don’t be scared of the zippers – they really aren’t hard to put in. It was probably harder working on that embroidery – but then I’m really not much on hand sewing!

So there you have it. A little pouch featuring some paper piecing. And of course any money that gets saved in there will immediately go to buying more fabric. Because every rainy day needs fabric.

So where to next on the PPP blog hop?  Kate at Kate Quilts is our stop tomorrow for another fun paper pieced project! Followed by Diane from From Blank Pages and Lara from LuellaBella.

You can find the full schedule of who’s on where and when (but not what – that’s a surprise!) here.

There's also a Pinterest board that I'll add the blog hop projects too, and we now have a Flickr group! Come and join so I'm not talking to myself. I do enough of that as it is. Feel free to add your projects there! If you Flickr, but don't blog, you can also use your Flickr pic to enter the Linky party at the end of the month ;)

And just to start this blog hop right – let’s have a giveaway! Because we all love giveaways and a chance at free fabric! Up for grabs I have a little charm pack of Oh Deer by Momo which I picked up from Jane of Need It Want It Quilt (she also happens to be a blog hopper!).



You’re lucky this is on offer. It nearly went into my stash. It's the second time I've had to part with it but I managed, only just. Charm packs are great for paper piecing as you can get lots of different prints to use! And check out these birdies. Soooo cute!



So how do you enter this giveaway? Too easy. Just leave a comment on this post before 8pm Wednesday 8th August (Aussie time). Everyone welcome – readers, blog hoppers, Aussies, International. If you’ve read this far and can type a comment, you can enter. Only one entry per person mind you .

Please make sure you have an email address connected with your profile that I can contact you on if you’re the lucky winner, or leave it in your comment.  Winner will be chosen via random.org so everyone has a chance! Get those lucky pants on!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you get very inspired by the rest of the blog hoppers! Don’t forget to come back here for a linky party on the 29th August (Aussie time, that’s a day earlier for most of you!) and show off your paper pieced projects!