ESSENTIAL GUIDE Enjoy English Paper Piecing

“Discover, or re-discover, the joys of English paper piecing and sew something relaxing and rewarding.”
– Lin Clements

WHAT IS ENGLISH PAPER PIECING?

This type of patchwork, also called English patchwork or mosaic patchwork, is often one of the first techniques that beginners learn. The technique dates back hundreds of years and allows some lovely effects to be achieved and complex designs to be built up. Essentially, EPP is a hand-technique that uses templates, usually made of thick paper, thin card or freezer paper. Fabric pieces are wrapped around and fixed to the paper or card either by tacking (basting), gluing or fusing in the case of freezer paper. The prepared fabric patches are hand sewn together, usually with Whip Stitch (Overcast Stitch), and the papers are then removed. The 1718 coverlet is an early form of patchwork that uses EPP and, if you are keen on the technique, Susan Briscoe describes the making of the sixty-nine blocks in her book, The 1718 Coverlet. Almost any shape can be given the EPP treatment – see Fig 1 for some examples. EPP may be slower than machine piecing, but it has many advantages:

■ Slow work can be