Paper Piecing Discoveries

I have been paper-piecing almost since I started quilting 5 years ago. I even teach others how to do it. One would think that I would be fairly adept at it, and seldom make mistakes, right? Wrong! I am working with a paper-piecing pattern that does not tell me the size piece I should cut for each section. No problem, right? I carefully measured, and measured again, and added extra fabric "just in case"....

Well, my "just in case" extra fabric made it "almost fit". I was a tad bit dismayed to find that my pieces for my test block were coming up short. I finally measured again, added 1 1/2" to each measurement, and cut again for the test block. This is now working!

So I guess my first lesson of the day is: if you think it's enough, it's not. if you think you added enough extra to cover in case it's not enough, add more! The block is turing out very nice- I am making a test block for the Storm At Sea quilt. I wanted to make sure all the measurements were right before I started cutting all the fabric... and boy, am I glad I did! My fabric is at least 3 years old, so I would have a pretty slim chance of finding any more of it.

And the second lesson of the day is: Make a test block!

This is the 3rd quilt I have made a "test" block for, and I think that will be my SOP from now on. In all three cases I have made changes to the block! The first two I made color changes, and now this last one I made all sorts of measurement changes. I highly recommend the test block! It's kinda nice to know before you piece all 63 blocks that the blue fabric in the center doesn't work, don't you think?