October's Die to Try Is an English Paper Piecing Gem

AccuQuilt is celebrating fall with the introduction of October’s Die to Try series die, the GO! English Paper Piecing Jewel Petal-1" Finished Sides Die. English Paper Piecing (EPP) is the perfect activity for quilters on the move. This sparkling shape has 1” finished sides and is specially designed to work with other GO! English Paper Piecing Dies – like the GO! English Paper Piecing Hexagon-1" Finished Sides Die and the GO! Qube English Paper Piecing-1” Finished Sides.

If you aren’t familiar with English Paper Piecing, it’s traditionally a hand-sewing technique where you baste fabric around a small template before sewing the shapes together. The die actually cuts the fabric on one end and the templates on the other! There are three basic ways to do the basting step: 

• Baste through the template, leaving your knot on the top, so the stitches can easily be removed later, along with the template.
• Baste through the fabric only on the back side. These stitches remain in the project, but allow the template to be easily removed.
• Using a Fabric Glue Stick, baste the fabric around the template. You will still be able to loosen the glue and remove the template later in the process.

Here’s our Jewel Petal. Put two together and you have a little heart shape. Cluster a group around a hexi and you have a fun floral look. Change the colors to blue and white and you’re creating snowflakes. This is just the start of the fun that you can have.

Here’s a really fun project for getting started with some EPP! This design uses the GO! English Paper Piecing Jewel Petal-1” Finished Sides Die with the hexagon and equilateral triangle dies from the GO! Qube English Paper Piecing-1” Finished Sides.

You can make them scrappy like this or match any season or decor you wish. This perfect, beginning pattern was created by one of our GO! Getters, Jennifer Strauser of Dizzy Quilter.

What a great, sunny project this is! Jennifer Strauser of Dizzy Quilter’s created this lovely wall hanging that’s perfect for the quilter on the GO! The EPP “flowers” are appliqued right onto background squares, which were cut with the GO! Square-8 1/2” (8” Finished) Die. Think about all the scrappy fun you can have with this pattern.

If you’re just getting started with English Paper Piecing, here are a few accessories you might find helpful:

• A bag to keep your supplies together.
• Hand sewing needles. I like Milliners Needles.
• Needle Threader with LED Light
• Small scissors
• Sew Tite Magnets or Wonder Clips to hold pieces while you stitch.
• Thread. Anything can work for basting, but think about using DecoBob Prewound Bobbins. They are an 80 weight thread that’s perfect for piecing and take up less space than a large spool.
• June Tailor Fabric Glue Stick

If you’re interested in learning more about EPP – including how to piece them using your sewing machine - be sure to pick up a copy of English Paper Piecing Made Easy Pattern Book by Katja Marek.