Paper Piecing - Curves and Saving Fabric

Saving Fabric and Your Sanity While Paper Piecing

Here are some tips to make paper piecing all those triangles on a curve easier while saving fabric too.
Print an extra copy of the paper piecing template and cut it apart on the seam lines.

IMPORTANT STEP - Place your template pieces on the BACK of your fabric with the template’s print facing up so you can read it. You will be able to arrange them neatly to save fabric.

Cut the fabric a half inch bigger than the template pieces on all sides.Keep the templates with the fabric until you are ready to sew them so you don’t mix them up.

Keep the fabric and templates together in order that you will sew them.

Paper piece as you normally would following the printed template.

The pieces will line up nicely and trimming the seams will be quick and easy.

Paper Piecing Curves

Fold the outward facing curve, convex curve, in half and mark the center. Fold again and mark the quarters. Do the same for the inward facing curve, concave curve, of the piece it will be attaching to.

Pin the center and quarter marks first. Make sure the side edges are even all the way down before pinning them.


Fill in any additional pins as needed. There will be a lot of fabric pulled up.

Set the machine back to a regular stitch length and sew SLOWLY. Sink the needle and straighten the fabric as needed. Don’t pull on the fabric or you will stretch the bias edges. Sew close to the pins but don’t sew over them!
When finished, press the seam out towards the top of the block.

Repeat these steps until all the sections/rows of the block are sewn together.

Hope you learned a new trick or two!

Pine Tree Tutorial

Here is a quick little tutorial for the paper pieced pine trees from the Snow quilt along.

Set the brown fabric behind the template with “right” side facing out. Place the blue fabric so the “right” sides are facing each other. Just like you would for a normal piecing. Sew along the first seam line on the front of the template.

Fold back the paper along the seam line and trim the fabric to a 1/4” seam allowance.

Press fabrics without steam.

Next cut a 3” strip of green and stitch it in place. Fold back the paper, trim, and press.

Cut a 3” strip of white fabric. Before adding the white strip fold back the green fabric along the seam line and finger press to make a crease.

Then place the white strip so it overlaps the crease by approximately 1/4”. Stitch in place, fold back paper, trim, and press. The cut off left over can be used for the next green row.

Continue these steps until the tree is finished.

Cut a 6” x 9” piece of the blue fabric. Place and sew the long side of the rectangle to the block. Trim the seam and press.

Flip the block over and trim along the outer edge.

Use the left over piece you just trimmed off to complete the other side of the block.

Trim the block.

Finished block.

One Way to Paper Piece

Here is quick little tutorial on paper piecing to go along with the Happy Fall Ya’ll wall hanging.

I like to shorten my stitch length slightly. It makes removing the paper easier in the end.

You will be following the numbers in order as printed on the paper pattern.

Place your first fabric behind the paper with the wrong side of the fabric touching the paper.

Place the second fabric under the stack with pretty sides of the fabrics touching just like you would if you were sewing a normal seam. Make sure there is at least a 1/4 inch of fabric hanging over the seam you are going to sew.

Sew along the seam line on the paper.

Fold the paper back along the seam line and trim the under fabric to a 1/4 inch.

Press the fabrics without steam. This step is very important so don’t skip it.

Continue to add fabrics following the above steps until the block is finished. Then trim the block along the outside lines. This will leave you with a 1/4 inch seam allowance for piecing.

Front of the finished block.

That’s all there is to it.