English Paper Piecing Class

In March I taught an English Paper Piecing (EPP) class.  This was in anticipation of a class we had scheduled for Diane Miller, who was teaching a class that used EPP.  We had a class of 15, which is a very nice size of group.  

I learned most of my English Paper Piecing either from reading things on my own,or from SisterStitches, who teaches EPP at her quilt shop in Minnesota.  It seems like she's always working on an EPP project.  

One of the table groups for the class.

To prepare for the class I did some EPP and took lots of photos of the process.  Then I chose photos, made them black and white, and put them into a many-paged handout for the students.  Above is one of the photos.

I put together the above hexagons and put them onto this green background before making it into a pot holder.  Strange, but I can't find a photo of the finished pot holder!  This was the project everyone worked on.  

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The photo below shows some more complicated EPP that I did for a class I took five years ago.  You can see the post here.  In this class (which I took via snail mail) we used smaller shapes to build larger hexagons.  

Here is a close-up of some of these hexagons.  One can tell from the above photo that this is an unfinished project.  I still need to make a few more "engineered" hexagons, then make "fill-in" pieces for the sides.

We had a good time during our class.  I showed them how to baste the fabric to the paper shapes with needle and thread, and also how to do it using fabric glue.  Different methods appeal to different people.

Here I am demonstrating the stitching to a student.

The students really enjoyed learning this method, and everyone was very successful.  People were especially happy about how portable this sewing method is.  So it can be easily taken when traveling or when going to a weekly quilting get-together.

Since then, we have formed an EPP interest group which will meet monthly.  That way we can share what we are doing, exchange ideas, and learn from each other.

I'll share some photos of their wonderful work in another post.