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Floral Garden Bunting Project: a Wrap-Up on the 2023 Stitch-Along

     Anne      Leave a Comment

 

Last year, I shared monthly floral embroidery motifs with my email subscribers, with the aim of turning the 12 embroideries into a string of bunting at the end of the year. I’ve just finished mine and shared the final instructions via the newsletter. Since there’s been renewed interest in the project, I thought I’d share the patterns here as well to make it easier for everyone to download and keep track of. I’m so glad people are enjoying this sweet little project!! 🙂

Find the quick download links below, and read on for more insight into the design process and some more useful links (really just self-indulgent flower talk & pretty photos!).

 

Floral Garden Patterns & Final Instructions PDFs

 

January-Silky-Anemone
February-Sprouting-Snowdrop
March-Sunny-Primrose
April-Budding-Crocus-1
Mays-Lily-of-the-Valley
June-Lovely-Lavender
July – Pale Hydrangea
August-Pretty-Dahlia
September-Feathery-Asters-1
October-Happy-Sunflower
November-Cheery-Chrysanthemum
December-Festive-Mistletoe
2023-Floral-Bunting-Instructions

 

January: Blue Anemone

 

Language of Flowers: Forsaken

 

(Maybe not the best way to start, but I didn’t choose the flowers according to their meaning in floriography, haha!)

 

When I started planning this stitch-along, I wanted to draw inspiration from the flowers that surround me throughout the seasons as much as possible. Since everything is covered in snow here for many months, I had to bend the rules a little some months and just go with flowers I liked and that completed each other well. I wanted something soft and blue for January, so I went with the blue anemone. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in real life, but it sure does look pretty as an embroidery!

Helpful post: I published a long & short stitch tutorial specifically for this flower, which you can also refer to for the other patterns that use l & s.

 

February: Snowdrop

 

Language of Flowers: Hope

 

 

A very apt meaning for this welcome sight, wouldn’t you say? After the bleakness of winter, the emerging snowdrops announce that there is hope for spring! Another one I have yet to see in real life, but I’m always so inspired by all the creative renditions of them, especially as embroidery motifs. They are always so popular, and with good reason. With only 3 thread colours, this little pattern is straightforward to stitch, yet still holds a small challenge in keeping a good stitch direction for the leaves and petals.

 

March: Primrose

 

Language of Flowers: Early youth

 

 

I had intended at first to keep all flowers designs in blue/white/purple shades for this project. However, after seeing Catherine from Bumpkin Hill‘s sweet little primroses from her Spring Sampler pattern, I was so inspired that I couldn’t help making up my own. I can never resist buttery yellow petals! Turns out the shades fit perfectly well with the previous two designs, and the ones to come.

If you also happen to love yellow flowers, I have a pattern in my shop for a lesser-known but gorgeous wildflower: The Sulfur Cinquefoil. Beginner-friendly if you’d like to give the long & short stitch a try!

 

April: Crocus

 

Language of Flowers: Abuse not

 

(Of what?)

 

I think the crocus has to be one of my favourite flowers, purely because it’s usually one of the first ones I see once the snow finally melts. It’s the surest sign of spring and warm weather, and forever associated with beautiful things like Easter, bird’s nests, and pastel eggs. Last year, the poor crocuses lasted only about four days. An ice storm over Easter preceded unusually hot weather (like, summer-hot weather!), and the poor darlings didn’t stand a chance. (Maybe the floriography is hinting at the weather to behave, ha!) One more reason why immortalizing blooms in embroidery is so wonderful.

 

May: Lily-of-the-Valley

 

Language of Flowers: Return of happiness

 

 

Is there anything on this Earth more delicately sweet and so perfectly detailed as the lily-of-the-valley? I pondered how best to embroider the delicate scalloped edge of the flower bells, and decided that simplicity was probably key: a soft line of split stitch. I had done something similar for the bluebells in this wreath design and it worked really well. Someday, I’ll have to stitch a bigger version of this beautiful flower!

 

June: Lavender

 

Language of Flowers: Distrust

 

 

I’ll tell you what I distrust about lavender – the actual process of growing it! We were lucky to get a few buds on our potted plant last year. But in places where it grows freely and effortlessly, what is there to distrust about it? It’s rather reliable, always smells delightful, and has so many beneficial uses. I love it, and also love seeing the various ways and colours people choose when embroidering it. Mom says mine doesn’t quite look like lavender…maybe the leaves are a little too fat? Next time, I think I’ll go for bullion knots for the flower buds.

If you’re thinking of doing that too but the bullion knot stitch intimidates you, check out the hack I came up with in this post!

 

July: Hydrangea

 

Language of Flowers: A boaster. Heartlessness.

 

(I seem to have a knack for picking flowers with the most *joyful* meanings, haven’t I!)

 

 

I’ll admit, the white (cream?) hydrangeas are not my favourites. I much prefer the blue ones, or even the soft pink ones. But since the creamy white ones grow in such abundance around the house, I decided to show them some appreciation – for they are indeed lovely anyways – by including them in this project. The petals are formed with lazy-daisy stitches sewn in clusters of four, much like I did for the lilac in this wreath pattern.

Have a look at my lazy-daisy stitch tutorial if you need a refresher!

 

August: Dahlia

 

Language of Flowers: Instability

 

I think, if I may be able to settle on a favourite from this project, it would be this one. I just love how it came out, and it’s not a difficult stitch (yet it looks quite sophisticated!). The petals are a joy to fill in. Dahlias, as I’m sure you know, come in so many different colours and even different shapes. This particular one is inspired by a lone pale pink dahlia which blossomed in a pot on our front steps. The silky petals surrounding the bead-like center made it such a welcome sight every day.

Helpful post: Satin Stitch tutorial, for those sweet petals!

 

September: White Asters

 

Language of Flowers: Variety. Afterthought.

 

 

Afterthought indeed! It seems the white asters are often overlooked in favour of the more popular purple ones. But there’s something I dearly love about the wispy, feathery petals and the way the flowers grow in clumps. Nothing says “September” quite like a field full of asters lit by the golden sunlight under a blue sky. A mix of lazy-daisy stitches and straight stitches worked to achieve those thin, wispy petals, but you could stitch them with only straight stitches.

 

October: Sunflower

 

Language of Flowers: For a dwarf sunflower, adoration. For a tall sunflower, haughtiness.

 

 

What is fall without sunflowers? Absolutely one of my favourite flowers, for their cheerfulness and deep, rich colours. They may be haughty but they are so beautifully welcoming, growing tall around people’s homes and enlivening their gardens. I don’t have any myself, but there is wild Jerusalem artichoke growing in the backyard and the flowers look very similar to sunflowers!

 

November: Chrysanthemum

 

Language of Flowers: Condolences

 

 

By November, the majority of blooms are gone, the leaves have fallen, and there is often at least a snowstorm or two during the month. Having nothing in the garden to look at for inspiration anymore, I opted for a popular flower, chrysanthemum being the birth flower for November. I rummaged around in my floss box and found the perfect shades of peachy orange for the petals. I wasn’t sure how to stitch them at all, but after watching this lovely video on YouTube by Linh N. W. and remembering how Nicki Franklin of The Stitchery did her dahlias, I decided to try something similar. By layering rows of lazy-daisy stitches I was able to achieve the look I was looking for, and I was overall quite pleased with the final result!

 

December: Mistletoe

 

Language of Flowers: I surmount difficulties.

 

 

And to conclude this little series, I decided to end with a sprig of mistletoe. Usually depicted upside down, tied with a bow, I decided to stitch mine upright so it wouldn’t look funny beside the other ones. A hint of festivity for December, yet sober enough to blend in beautifully with the other designs. The creamy white berries are similar to the snowberries from my popular Winter Wreath in my shop.

 

And there we are! Another stitch-along completed, now that all these lovelies have been sewn up into bunting. There are so many things you can do with your finished embroideries (they would look lovely as stuffed hearts too!), but the bunting is a rather easy and fun way to display them all at once!

 

 

I really hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did, and thank you so much for your interest and participation. If you read this entire post I thank you sincerely (and you deserve a medal!). And now I must know…which embroidery here is your favourite? Which flowers do you personally associate/love particularly for each month? Comment below!

 

Fondly

Tea Party EPP & Embroidery Mini-Quilt Stitch-Along 2022

     Anne      2 Comments

 

I can hardly believe that this lovely mini-quilt project is now coming to a close! What a fun time it has been. In 2021, I had the joy of discovering – and falling in love with – English paper piecing (EPP). I made a little hexie flower each month with Mollie Johanson’s super cute embroidery patterns (found here on her Wild Olive blog). It was so enjoyable having a mini-embroidery to work on each month and anticipating what new design Mollie would come up with.

I knew I wanted to continue in 2022, and decided to create my own patterns to share with whoever might be interested. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure if people would actually be interested in participating, or would prefer just seeing the progress on Instagram. I had this vague idea of combining the embroideries with EPP and turning them into a mini-quilt, but having never really quilted before I wasn’t *too* sure how I’d eventually go about it.

As more and more new followers showed interest in the project and began to stitch my little patterns, I became really excited (and scared!) to actually put the project together. But – no surprise there – mini-quilts are such fun to make, and hand-quilting is very addictive! I gathered lots of inspiration and had recourse to some fabulous tutorials by Emma of Vintage Sewing Box and Sarah from Pretty Fabrics & Trims (both of which I highly recommend checking out!).

 

The Finished Mini-Quilt

 

For my first mini-quilt, I am so happy with how it turned out. I wanted to challenge myself to use only fabric I already had on hand. Luckily I found the perfect cotton floral prints to go with the embroideries. EPP is wonderful for using up pretty fabric scraps!

It is entirely stitched by hand; from the embroideries to assembling the EPP hexies together, appliquéing, hand-quilting, and hand-binding. Very relaxing to do actually, and lots of fun coming up with ideas for the hand-quilting. I’m not yet very equipped for it in terms of threads and needles, so I just used embroidery floss and cotton perle, and an embroidery needle. I just worked a simple running stitch around each embroidery, and around the hexie panel and over the background fabric. To bind it, I used the seam allowance from the backing fabric, creating a lovely floral border that matched the hexies.

 

Stitch-along combining EPP & embroidery

This project has been a free stitch-along for email subscribers since January 2022. I’ve been sending out a mini-embroidery pattern each month, all “Tea Party” themed. Yesterday, I sent out the complete instructions for making the mini-quilt. It’s not too late if you’d like to join in the fun and get all the patterns too! Simply subscribe here to my newsletter, and everything shall be sent to you. (Be sure to check your spam folder and complete all the steps until you get a confirmation that you’re subscribed).

The project will remain free for the remainder of 2022! After that, it will be available for sale in my Etsy shop. New freebies will be offered for 2023!

May’s Rosy Teapot, June’s Strawberry Basket, and July’s Piece of Cake

I really hope that you’ve enjoyed this Tea Party stitch-along and that you have fun putting the mini-quilt together! Of course, if EPP and mini-quilts are not as much your thing, you can definitely use the patterns to make something else. Many of the designs look really lovely just on their own, too.

Thank you so, so much to everyone who has participated in or shown enthusiasm for this project! It was such a pleasure to share little stitcheries with you. I love seeing your work, so don’t hesitate to tag me on Instagram or email me with photos! 😊

 

You Might Also Like:

english paper piecing: how to cut and baste shapes
English Paper Piecing Basics: Cutting & Basting
How to Turn Embroideries into EPP hexies
Basket Weave Stitch Tutorial: Simple & Pretty

Fondly,

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How to Turn Embroideries into EPP hexies

     Anne      2 Comments

I’ve written about the wonders of EPP (English Paper Piecing) before, but since we are now half-way through our lovely EPP Mini-Quilt Tea Party, I thought it would be a good time to give specific instructions for that project. So in this blog post, I’ll be sharing how I turned July’s Piece of Cake into a hexie for the mini-quilt. You’ll be able to refer to this tutorial to turn all your mini-embroideries into hexies.

 

If you’re new around here (hello! welcome!) and wondering what the mini-quilt project is all about, you can have a look at this post and subscribe to my newsletter. Each month, I send out a free mini-embroidery design to turn into hexies to make an EPP mini-quilt. So far, we’ve just been embroidering the designs each month, but now is a good time to start turning them into hexies.

embroidered piece of cake on an epp hexie

If you already know how to do that, then you can skip this entire post and just enjoy the July pattern. You will find it along with the updated hexie template in today’s newsletter, and the one thing you really want to pay attention to is the orientation of the hexie. One of the corners should be facing up, as illustrated in the template.

If you’re new to EPP, then I’ll walk you through creating your own hexies in this post. You can also have a look at my previous posts on the subject for more info on EPP:

stitching a hexie flower english paper piecing
english paper piecing: how to cut and baste shapes

Note: Obviously, turning your embroideries into hexies and making the mini-quilt is totally optional. If you prefer to use the embroidery patterns for something else, please do so (as long as it’s for personal use, of course)!

 

From Embroidery to EPP Hexie Tutorial:

First, the embroidery. If you’re a newsletter subscriber, then you’ve been getting a small embroidery pattern in your inbox each month. If you haven’t gotten them for some reason or you’re a new subscriber, please get in touch and I’ll happily send them to you.

1. Each embroidery is designed to fit nicely around a 1 3/8″ hexagon, and fits inside a 3” hoop. I’ve been stitching each of mine on a 4” x 4” piece of cotton muslin, using a 3” hoop. Follow the instructions provided with your pattern to embroider the design.

embroidered piece of cake in pale blue hoop

2. When you’re done stitching, pop the embroidery out of the hoop, and give it a light press with the iron. It doesn’t need to be perfect, just flatten the big hoop mark to work comfortably.

embroidered piece of cake

3. Next, you’ll need to download and print the “Hexie Template” I’ve provided in today’s newsletter. If your printer allows, print directly on cardstock paper. If not, print on normal paper and then trace over on cardstock. Cut out your hexagons, making sure they are all the same size. The sides should be 1 3/8″ long, but feel free to make them bigger or smaller to fit around your embroideries as you prefer.

hexie template page and single cut hexie from cardstock

4. Punch a hole into each of them, to make it easier to remove them from the fabric later on.

hole puncher beside cardstock hexie

5. Then, place your embroidery on the wrong side, and place the hexie shape on top. Make sure that it is oriented correctly, with one of the corners facing up. I like to use a small piece of tape or a pin to hold the hexie in place. I don’t recommend glue basting because of the embroidery!

hexie shape placed over embroidery on wrong side
piece of tape placed over hexie shape

6. Hold up the embroidery to the light to make sure it is nice and centered over the hexie.

embroidery held against a window to see hexie shape through it

7. When you’re satisfied with the position, turn the embroidery on the wrong side again, and mark a ¼” seam allowance all around the hexagon shape.

seam allowance drawn on fabric wrong side around the hexie shape

8. Cut along your seam allowance line, and you should end up with this!

seam allowance cut aroun hexie shape

9. Now, let’s baste the fabric around the shape. To do this, fold one side of the seam allowance down along one of the edges, holding it in place at the corner.

one side seam allowance folded down

10. Fold the next side down, allowing the SA to fold over the previous one at the corner. Hold in place.

seam allowance folded down in place at corner

11. With a hand-sewing needle and matching thread (I’m using a contrasting thread for the photos), take a stitch through all the fabric layers, but not the cardstock. If you didn’t knot your thread, leave a little tail. Make 2 or 3 stitches, securing the fold down.

needle going through fabric at seam allowance fold
a few stitches made to secure fold down

12. Moving to the next corner, fold the seam allowances the same way as before, and drag your thread over the side to reach the corner. Again, make 2-3 stitches to secure the fold down.

13. Repeat these steps to secure the remaining seam allowances, until your hexie looks like this:

hexie fully basted

Don’t pull the paper out yet, but you can remove the pin or piece of tape. If the tape is too hard to remove without messing up the hexie, just leave it in for now and it will be removed later.

14. Flip the hexie to the good side and admire your lovely work!

finished hexie from the good side, showing embroidered cake

You can follow this tutorial to turn all your mini Tea Party embroideries into hexies, and by the end of the year you will have a total of 12.

That’s all there is to it for now, until we start sewing them together! I will have another tutorial post with instructions for that at a later time. I hope this one was helpful and that you have a fun time turning the embroideries into little hexies. It’s such a fun part of the process!

Thank you again so much for your participation in this project, and I can’t wait to see all your lovely hexies! Be sure to tag me on Instagram (@northernbelle.atelier) and use the hashtag #northernbellesal to see everyone else’s too!

And if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter so you can join the Tea Party and never miss an update. Happy stitching!

Fondly,

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New in the Shop: Easter Eggs Decorations

     Anne      Leave a Comment

Can you believe it’s Holy week already and Easter is next Sunday?! April seems to be absolutely flying by so far. I for one am very excited to welcome Easter (and sunnier, spring-like weather) and celebrate the resurrection of Christ with a warm cup of tea and a box of chocolate! I don’t drink tea or eat chocolate during Lent, so Easter Sunday is always made extra special by indulging in favourite treats again. Only a few more days to wait now, so in the meantime…I’ve been stitching flowery Easter eggs! Next to eating them, stitching them is best, right?

 

pdf embroidery patterns floral easter eggs

 

I have my sweet Mom to thank for this lovely idea. She thought it would be great if I added a few Easter-themed embroidery pattern to the shop. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to make it since it was already late March and I was still immersed in embroidering this robin…

embroidered robin bird

…but he is taking quite a long time, and I doubted he’d be done in time for Easter. So when Mom suggested embroidering Easter eggs, it seemed like the perfect idea to add new products to the shop and take a little break from my feathery friend. I’ve always loved painting eggs, so I thought why not come up with some cute designs and embroider them instead? I’m much better at embroidery than painting, anyways!

 

Floral Easter Eggs

So the embroideries quickly took form, but I found it a bit odd just to have a decorative egg by itself on the fabric. It would look much better as a decoration! Which is why I transformed them into little hanging ornaments, perfect for a touch of Easter decor, and perfect to keep throughout Spring as well!

embroidered easter eggs

Aren’t they just adorable? They’re available as PDF downloads in my shop so that you can make your own! All three designs are beginner-friendly and quick to stitch. Each pattern also includes a step-by-step tutorial on how to make the ornament. It’s really easy, and all you need in addition to embroidery supplies are a piece of felt, ribbon, some cardboard, and hand-sewing needle & thread.

You’ll have these whipped up in no time, just in time for Easter!

 

Visit Northern Belle Atelier on Etsy and grab your pattern today!

 

Tulip

embroidered tulip egg
Shop this pattern

This one is probably the easiest. You only need 4 embroidery stitches: satin stitch, stem stitch, whipped backstitch, and French knots. All stitch tutorials are included in the PDF.

 

Flower Meadow

embroidered floral meadow
Shop this pattern

This lovely meadow was such a joy to embroider, and is very easy to personalize. Follow the pattern or create your own!

 

Pansy

embroidered pansy egg
Shop this pattern

And finally, this lovely pansy stitched on a soft background. This one has the fun addition of using DMC Light Effects thread, which creates a beautiful shine. Also a beginner-friendly pattern, using few stitches but featuring lovely little details.

 

Which one is your favourite?

If you love them all and want to purchase all three designs, be sure to do so through this listing! I created a little bundle so you can have all three patterns for less the price of two.

3 floral embroidery eggs
Shop pattern bundle

I hope you enjoy these floral Easter eggs my dear friends! Are flowers already blooming in your garden? We’ve started sowing many flowers and vegetables inside, but it will be a couple more weeks before things bloom in earnest. At least the birds are singing happily, and it hasn’t snowed in over a week!

 

I look forward to chatting with you all again after Easter, cup of tea and chocolate eggs at hand. 😉

 

Fondly,

Of Hearts & Pretty Fabric Scraps

     Anne      4 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day, dear friend! I hope today finds you in a happy mood and that that it’ll bring you a little something sweet and loving. I’ll be honest, I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day. It doesn’t hold any special significance for me, and I eat enough chocolate throughout the year as it is. 😉 Nevertheless, this February I’ve felt particularly drawn to the Valentine’s aesthetic in my needlework. Soft pink and red threads, appliquéd hearts, delicate little stitches, and pretty fabric scraps have been my biggest source of inspiration these last few weeks. While preparing the EPP tutorial post I shared last week, I brought my box of fabric scraps out to play, and had fun just experimenting and trying new techniques.

I spend a lot of time working on large and time-consuming needlework projects that require a lot of planning and concentration, so it was really lovely to slow down a little and work on simpler, softer projects. I just let my inspiration flow and my needle and thread carry me. Shall we have a look at some of my recent makes?

flat lay showing a variety of sewing projects (laundry bag, appliqué hearts, embroidered fabric heart) and basket full of haberdashery and sewing notions

 

Needle-Turn Appliqué

I confess, a lot of my inspiration comes from Instagram, where it seems all the stitchers are also gracing this month with their prettiest fabric scrap projects. I’ve been seeing so many beautifully embroidered fabric hearts, appliquéd journal pages, and just general heart-and-pastels loveliness, that I had to try a little something of my own. After coming across a fantastic video tutorial by Sarah Edgar of Pretty Fabrics & Trims on needle-turn appliqué, I simply *had* to set everything aside and try it immediately. I’ve dabbled in appliqué before and really enjoy it, but I had never tried this method before. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and fun it was! So here are some little scrappy hearts, made with love and new-found appreciation for the technique.

flat lay showing appliqué scrap fabric hearts, with some pins and spool of thread

I really should try more spur-of-the-moment experiments like this! Not only was it fun to just play around with fabric scraps, but it was also very relaxing. I will definitely be trying needle-turn appliqué again and can’t wait to incorporate it in a future project. I strongly recommend having a look at Pretty Fabrics & Trims, too!

 

The Cutest Clothespin Bag

Who says laundry has to be all drab and dull?! Not with this darling accessory!

clothespin bag with wooden pegs, ribbon, lace, and fabric scraps

I’m actually really proud of this project. I put my dusty drafting skills to use to make a pattern, and rummaged through my fabric stash and notions to find a satisfactory combination. This is a birthday gift for my dear mother, you see. Her clothespins currently reside in an old plastic bread bag, which deeply offends my sense of the picturesque. I must rescue them (the bag is about to pop, after all), and thus the idea for this project was born. It turns out that Pinterest is full of these charming creations, and the possibilities are nearly endless.

I spent more time deciding how to embellish the bag than drafting and sewing combined. I was tempted to embroider all over it, and to bedeck it with lace and ribbons but had to restrain myself to one ribbon bow and two buttons. My eternally practical mother wouldn’t use it if I made it “too pretty”. She has a good point of course, this is for the laundry room after all, not the next issue of Victoria magazine! And in this case, less really is more, it’s just the right balance between pretty and practical as it is, I think.

close-up of clothespin bag details; red ribbon bow and white buttons
clothespin bag hanging from door handle

In any case, this is a wonderful project to add a touch of vintage to your home and use up some of those fabric scraps! Very simple to put together, even to draft, and so easy to personalize. With a bag as cute as this one, you might even find yourself looking forward to doing the laundry. 😉 And the clothespins will be very pleased of their new home, I’m sure.

 

Embroidered Fabric Heart

The last project I want to share with you is this stuffed fabric heart made with the softest antique linen, and featuring a most gorgeous embroidery pattern by Nicki Franklin of The Stitchery. I’ve been admiring and sighing over Nicki’s work for a while now, but hadn’t actually used any of her patterns until now! Since I spend more and more time only embroidering from my own designs, it’s now rare that I use someone else’s. But how can one resist Nicki’s incredibly beautiful work? (Here’s a link to the specific pattern I used: February Heart.)

embroidered floral heart featuring roses, branches of leaves and hyacinths

Embroidering this heart was some of the most relaxing and soothing stitching I’ve done in a while! Everything about it is so soft and sweet, it uses only basic stitches, and it comes together fairly quickly. I didn’t have all the recommended colours so I changed up the palette a little, but that was part of the delights of making this! I’ve been hooked on Agatha Christie’s Poirot series since the fall, but only started watching the TV show recently. It was perfect to put in the background while working on this!

I’d been wanting a new scented sachet for the closet, so I decided to turn the embroidery into a stuffed hanging heart. I used a mix of polyester fiberfill and scrap bits of thread and fabric for stuffing. Since I didn’t have any lavender buds but still wanted the heart to smell nice, I used a drop or two of pure lavender essential oil directly on the stuffing and it works so wonderfully! A really handy tip I got from Helen of Whitewood and Linen. 🙂

stuffed fabric heart featuring embroidered heart pattern with lots of roses, leaves and other florals
close-up of embroidered fabric heart showing roses and hyacinths
I used my Awesome Hack for the bullion knots 😉

 

The Joys of Antique Linen

The antique linen I used for the hanging heart is easily the best fabric I’ve ever embroidered on. So incredibly soft and beautiful, it’s simply dreamy. Many lovely creators I follow on Instagram always use the most gorgeous antique linens for their projects, and now that I’ve had a go at it, I can definitely understand why! I do not wish to go back to anything else, but alas, I have only a small amount. If anyone is interested, I got it as part of a bundle from this Etsy shop. Highly recommended!

That’s all from me for now dear friend, thank you for spending some time on my blog today, and happy Valentine’s Day! I’d love to know what you’ve been creating lately, and what has been inspiring you. Does anyone else not particularly care about the holiday, but likes the aesthetic? Who else loves antique linen?

Fondly,

february inspiration
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English Paper Piecing Basics: Cutting & Basting

     Anne      3 Comments

A year ago almost to the day, I discovered the wonderful world of English Paper Piecing (EPP). A relaxing and easy way to join fabrics together, EPP is a very creative form of hand-sewing. I published a post on the subject last November, in which I showed you how to make a hexie flower with embroidery. In today’s post, I will cover the basics of EPP in more details and show you all about cutting and basting various shapes.

 

Learn the basics of english paper piecing

 

If you’re here following my Tea Party Mini-Quilt stitch-along, this will be a good post to refer to if you’re new to EPP and aren’t sure how to get started. 😊 I will be turning February’s embroidery pattern into a little hexagon as part of this tutorial.

 

What is English Paper Piecing?

an epp hexie flower with a pink house embroidered in the center, embroidery floss and pretty fabrics around the flower
Embroidery following the 2021 February House pattern from Mollie Johanson of Wild Olive.

 

English Paper Piecing – commonly known as EPP – is a method of creating and assembling various shapes using fabric and paper. Often done entirely by hand, EPP allows you to arrange shapes one by one to create different designs. It’s often used in quilting and appliqué, or combined with embroidery to create a variety of lovely projects. It’s a really great way to use up small fabric scraps. With EPP, you begin by basting fabric to cardstock shapes, and then hand-sew them along the edges to create your design. The most shape commonto use is the hexagon, and “hexie flowers” are often made up of 7 hexagons pieced together. The hexagon is the best shape to start learning EPP, because its shape ensures clean edges when basting and piecing.

 

Materials & Tools

flat lay showing materials for epp: mini-iron, teacup pincushion, pink paper scissors, sewing shears, paper puncher, rose-patterned fabric squares, cardstock hexagons, embroidered cherries, pins, and thread

First, you’ll need basic hand-sewing supplies: a pair of sewing shears, some snips, pins, and a needle and thread. I like to use a small, sharp hand-sewing needle, and polyester or all-purpose thread. I also recommend using a thimble.

For fabric, you’ll want something woven and lightweight: quilting cotton is the best for this, but cotton and linen blends can also work. EPP is perfect for showing off pretty fabric prints and using up scraps. Of course, you use plain fabric too!

You’ll also want:

  • Cardstock paper or pre-cut cardstock shapes
  • Paper scissors
  • Iron and ironing board (if you have a mini-iron, it’s really handy for this!)
  • Paper hole puncher
  • Optional: washable glue stick

 

Cutting Your Shapes

If you’ve never done EPP before, I recommend starting with hexagon shapes, about 1” to 1 1/4” in size. However, many other shapes can be used for EPP, so I will also show you how to cut and baste different ones.

various shapes cut out of cardstock paper, with paper template beside, and teacup pincushion and pink paper scissors

Cut your shapes out of cardstock paper, exactly to size, without any allowance. You can follow a template like I’m doing above, or make up your own. You can also buy pre-cut cardstock shapes if you prefer!

 

Once the pieces are cut, I like to “true” them up to make sure they will fit nicely against each other. Simply arrange your shapes how you want them to be sewn together, and make sure that all the edges are well-aligned. Trim off a little excess paper if need be, so they will fit perfectly.

2 paper hexagons, 2 triangles and a diamond are arranged against each other to align the edges

 

Once you are satisfied with the fit, punch a hole through each piece with a paper puncher. This is to make it easier to remove the paper later.

paper shapes punched with hole puncher, pins, stork scissors, and rose-patterned fabric squares

 

Cutting your Fabric

Now we are ready to cut the fabric that will cover the shapes! To do this, place your shape on the wrong side of the fabric of your choice. If using patterned fabric, you can do what’s called “fussy cutting” to show off pretty prints. This means that you are cutting around a specific motif on your fabric. If you’re turning an embroidery into a hexie for example, you’ll want to center it over your cardstock hexagon.

embroidered cherries next to cardstock hexagon

 

Pin in place, or dab a bit of washable glue stick to hold the cardstock to the fabric. I prefer to avoid using glue, so I pin mine. I do use a little piece of washi tape to stick to the cardstock and center the embroidery properly, but it will be removed later. For smaller pieces, I simply hold them in place with my hand while I cut the fabric.

embroidered cherries pinned to cardstock hexie, ready for cutting
hexie pinned to embroidery seen from wrong side ready for cutting
cardstock shapes placed on wrong side of fabric for cutting

 

Leave a ¼” seam allowance when you cut the fabric around your shapes. Don’t remove the pins yet!

hexagon has been cut from fabric with seam allowance, threaded needle beside
cardstock triangle over cut fabric ready for basting
You can trim some of the excess SA at the points by snipping straight across – but make sure you leave enough for basting.

 

Basting Your Shapes

The next step in the EPP process is to baste the fabric seam allowances to the cardstock shapes. If you’re working with hexagons, these are very easy to do, which is why I recommend starting with them.

First, thread a hand-sewing needle and keep it close by.

Working with the paper side facing you, fold one side of the seam allowance against the paper at one of the corners. Hold it in place and fold the next side down, creating a nice, clean corner.

hand folding one side of the seam allowance down on a hexie shape
hand folding seam allowance down to form clean corner on hexie

Bring your needle through the fold, leaving a short tail, and take three stitches to secure the fold in place and save you from having to make a knot. Only stitch through the fabric.

Then, move on to the next corner, folding the seam allowances the same way as before. Carry the needle over and again take two or three stitches to secure the fold down. Again, you only need to go through the fabric when basting these corners. Take out the pin(s) when you feel the cardstock shape is secure.

hand holding hexagon, while needle goes through the fold to secure corner for basting
hand holding hexagon for basting the seam allowances

Repeat until all the seam allowances have been basted and your hexagon looks like this:

basted hexagon seen from the back
finished hexagon seen from good side showing cherry embroidery

How to Baste Other Shapes

For shapes such as triangles and diamonds, the idea is the same: leave ¼” SA when cutting your fabric, and then fold them inwards around the shape.

basted epp shapes seen from wrong side

 

For very small pieces, it is easier to use glue to baste, but if you’re stubborn like me and don’t want to use glue, I recommend pressing down the seam allowances with an iron. If you have one of those mini-irons, they’re really handy for this! A regular iron will also work, but you’ll want to use a knitting needle or something to hold the fabric down instead of your fingers. I also recommend running some basting stitches across like this, if you find that it’s not holding its shape too well.

 

small triangle seam allowances pressed back ready for basting
basting stitches going across small triangle seam allowances to hold them in place

If one of the shape’s edges is longer than 1 ¼”, you’ll want to baste through the paper as well as the fabric. Instead of carrying your thread from one corner to the next, take a stitch through the fabric and paper around the half-way point. Repeat as many times as needed if you’re basting a very long edge.

hand holding bigger triangle while needle goes through paper and fabric to baste long edge
basted triangle with long edge seen from the good side

Preparing to Assemble the Pieces

You’ll notice that these triangles and diamonds aren’t as neat and clean as the hexagons, and still have excess SA showing at the corners. That’s totally normal, and it’ll be dealt with when you sew the pieces together. For now, you can just ignore them, or iron/glue them to the wrong side. Don’t cut them away though, unless you really have too much excess.

basted shapes with rose-patterned fabric seen from good side

 

Here’s what the piecing could look like, following the template pictured earlier, which is part of my Mini-Quilt stitch-along:

finished epp pieces against each other for piecing, stork scissors, pins, rose-patterned fabric squares

 

Stay tuned for my next EPP tutorial…

You can use your EPP shapes however you’d like; turn them into flowers or other motifs, use them for appliqué, or turn them into a mini-quilt! There are so many possibilities. I will have a future post showing you how to sew them together, but if you’re interested in hexagons and would like to make a “hexie flower”, you can find that post here.

If you’d like to participate in the Tea Party Mini-Quilt stitch-along, you can sign-up for my newsletter right here! I send out a free mini embroidery pattern each month this year, and turn the embroideries into hexagons that will eventually become a mini-quilt to hang on the wall. Of course, you can also use the embroidery patterns for any personal project you’d like!

I hope you enjoyed this post and that you’ll give EPP a try if you haven’t already. Cutting and basting is only the beginning, sewing everything together is so much fun. Warning though, it’s incredibly addictive, and you won’t be able to stop!

 

Fondly,

introduction to epp: cutting & basting
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