English Paper Piecing for Beginners

English paper piecing is the technique behind almost every antique hexagon coverlet you have seen in a museum case. Fabric is folded around a stiff paper template, the templates are stitched to each other along their folded edges, and the papers come out at the end. The papers hold every angle exactly, which is why the method produces points that meet cleanly with no machine involved.

The Victoria and Albert Museum describes piecing over paper as the most enduring British patchwork method: the pattern is drawn onto paper and cut accurately, small pieces of fabric are folded around each paper shape and tacked in place, and the shapes are then joined from the back with small stitches. That description has not changed in two hundred years.

Papers, fabric and thread

Precut papers in standard sizes are widely sold, but ordinary printer paper or thin card cut with a die or a template works identically. Historic examples were often pieced over whatever paper was to hand, including letters and newspaper, which is why quilt historians occasionally find dated documents inside unfinished tops.

Cut fabric with a quarter inch seam allowance all round the paper. More than that creates bulk at the corners; less than that frays away before you can fold it. Quilting cotton is the easiest starting point. For thread, use a fine cotton or polyester in a colour close to the darker of the two fabrics you are joining, in a thin weight such as 50 or 60. Fine thread disappears into the fold. A thick thread will show as visible dots along every seam.

Two ways to baste

Thread basting sews the seam allowance down through the paper. It is secure, the papers cannot shift, and the basting stitches are removed at the end. Basting through the paper means each template is used once, since it becomes perforated.

Glue basting uses a water soluble glue pen along the seam allowance only, folding the fabric onto the paper. It is much faster, it leaves the papers reusable many times over, and it holds firmly enough for handling. The trade off is that glue stiffens the seam allowance slightly and needs to wash out later.

Whipstitch versus flat back stitch

The traditional join is the whipstitch. Hold two basted shapes right sides together, edges aligned, and take small stitches through the folded edges only, catching two or three threads of each fold. Aim to keep the needle out of the paper. Worked with fine thread and small bites, the seam opens almost flat and the stitches are barely visible from the front.

The flat back stitch is the modern alternative. The two shapes are held flat and butted edge to edge rather than folded together, and the needle travels through the folds at a slight angle, catching a couple of threads from each side. It produces a genuinely flat seam with no ridge, which matters when a top will be machine quilted later. It is slower to learn and easier to sew crooked, so most people start with whipstitch.

Hexagons, diamonds and what tessellates

The hexagon is the classic shape because it tessellates with no wasted space and every seam is the same length, so the work builds outward from a centre in rosettes. Sixty degree diamonds tessellate too and produce tumbling block and star patterns. The Quilters' Guild heritage collection holds a piece known as the Mary Prince top that is built entirely from a single shape, the elongated hexagon, pieced over paper templates in exactly this way. Mixing shapes, for example hexagons with equilateral triangles or squares with octagons, opens up far more designs but demands accurate cutting, because a template that is a millimetre out will not close its ring.

When to remove the papers

A paper can come out once every edge of that shape has been sewn to a neighbour. If any edge is still exposed at the outside of the work, leave the paper in, because it is the only thing holding that seam allowance folded. In practice this means the papers come out from the centre of a rosette first while the outer ring stays intact. Ease each one out gently with a blunt point rather than pulling on the fabric.

Portability and finishing

The real appeal of the technique is that the whole project fits in a small bag. Basted shapes, a needle, thread and scissors are all you need, and any single seam takes a couple of minutes, so it suits waiting rooms and trains in a way that no machine method does.

Finishing an EPP top usually means one of two routes. Either appliqué the finished piece, with its shaped edge intact, onto a plain background square that can then be quilted conventionally, or square the top off by filling the jagged edges with half and quarter shapes and trimming straight. Once the papers are out and the top is pressed, it behaves like any other quilt top and can be layered, basted and quilted by hand or machine.