How to make your own English Paper Piecing Papers
Have you ever wanted to know how to make your own English Paper Piecing papers? I have and you know why? Because if you know how to make your own English Paper Piecing (or EPP as the cool kids call it) you can make your own EPP based patterns! (Did your mind just explode with the possibilities???)
EPP (lets just keep calling it that so I can pretend I’m one of the cool kids) is a great way to make some really tricky blocks. It’s also going to be one of the techniques that we use as part of the Farmer’s Wife 1930’s Sampler Quilt Sew-along so learning how to make your own papers is going to come in handy – and I’ll cover how to make pattern specific papers as part of the sew-along but for today we’re going to cover making generic shaped papers.
I’ve been toiling away on my 15th Brother International Quilt Contest Quilt and I’m going to let you in on a secret today; I’m going to paper piece it.
For those of you that don’t know about the contest here’s the details in a nutshell:
Create an “Eco” themed quilt (sized at 70cm x 70cm) and enter the competition for your chance to win a Brother Innov-is NV1800Q (RRP $1,799) and a revolutionary Brother ScanNCut CM550DX (RRP $699). Entries close 31 October 2015 and are open to Australians only. You can find out more by clicking here.
Amazing right! Not only will you win $2,400 in Brother prizes but the top 10 of the Australian quilts will travel to Tokyo and may hang at the Tokyo Quilt Festival. That’s huge!
But back to the handy paper piecing trick. To make your own papers you’re going to need 3 things; a Brother ScanNCut, some paper or card stock and 5 minutes.
I’m going to show you how to make the paper pieces needed to make the Spring Carnival EPP pattern. I love this patten because it’s interlocking rings made from squares, triangles and hexagons.
How to Make Your Own EPP Papers
Instructions for cutting a single shape (hexagon):
1. Set up your ScanNCut as per the manual.
2. Push the settings button (the button with the wrench on it).
3. Set the measurements to inches.
4. Hit ok.
5. Select pattern.
6. Select the shape icon (square and circle) on the screen.
7. Scroll and select shape BA-A042 (hexagon).
8. Set the width of the hexagon to 4″ and number to needed to 7.
9. Hit set.
10. Confirm that the placement of the shapes matches with your paper, hit ok.
11. Put your paper/card stock on a standard cutting mat. Load cutting mat as per instruction manual. Ensure you have your cutting knife and pressure settings set for the paper stock you’re using. Please consult the manual if unsure.
12. Select cut.
13. Press the start button.
14. Let the Brother ScanNCut do it’s thing. Hit Ok when it’s finished cutting.
15. Remove the cutting sheet from the ScanNCut.
16. Peel off your EPP shapes.
17. Do a little dance cause you’re done!
18. Repeat the above steps to make all the pieces you need.
To make a single Spring Carnival shape (as pictured above) you will need:
- 30 x 2″ squares (BA-A001 – set width to 2″)
- 24 x 2″ equilateral triangles (BA-A033 – set width to 2″)
- 7 x 2″ hexagons (BA-A042 – set width to 4″)
The Brother ScanNCut comes preloaded with so many common EPP shapes that you’re only limited by your imagination and access to paper. Next week I’ll be showing you how to take these shapes you’ve just made and turn them into patchwork.
Looking for all the instructions in one handy place…
Disclosure: Brother Australia are financial supporters of GnomeAngel.com. All opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced by the businesses involved. For further information about my disclosure policy please click here.
Thank you so much, my scan cut is still in the box. I’m doing EPP at the moment so will be definitely trying this out. Do you just use paper or card stock?
What type of paper is best to use to make the hexagons.
Looks like you’ve had a lot of fun making the papers and writing the tutorial! The hexagon photos look great – very engaging and the whole page flows beautifully. ☺
Looks like quite a nifty machine. I draw my shapes on the computer and print them, then cut them out. Not quite so accurate, probably. 🙂
When I started with patchwork and quilting, some thirty years ago, I didn’t know there was any other way of doing it than with paper piecing… Of course there weren’t any computer programs, so I drew the shapes on white paper, put that paper on a few sheets of magazine paper, and cut the whole stack using a craft knife, metal ruler and self-healing mat. – Drawing the shapes precisely was what took the longest.