Foundation Paper Piecing – Have You Tried It? — The other night the most beautiful quilt on the planet earth showed up in my Instagram feed and ever since then, I can’t get it out of my mind.
As it turns out, the quilt is actually a block of the month kit and it’s being sold by the online fabric shop DuckaDilly. The name of the quilt is Fairytale Forest.
It’s a beauty!!!
But after popping over to the website, I soon found out that if I wanted to make a king size quilt, it was going to set me back $935!!!
What!? I was confused. So I emailed my friend Zoe to make sure I had read the contents of the quilt correctly.
Here’s what the kit includes:
- (250) 9″x8″ pieces of printed Liberty Tana Lawn® fabric
- All of the necessary paper templates to create the entire quilt top.
- 10 yards of your choice of background fabric.
I asked Zoë what I was missing. Why was this “kit” so expensive? The cost was $935 and I still had to: buy thread, batting, binding material AND piece the quilt top plus quilt the entire thing too.
She just kind of laughed and told me I had read correctly and I wasn’t missing anything. 🙂
That Liberty of London fabric was really expensive {$40 a yard and milled in Italy} but oh boy was it a dream to work with. {And Zoe, being a big time quilt maker, knew exactly what she was talking about!}.
And then the more I thought about it {not really justifying the price, but rather understanding that high quality materials do fetch a premium} I wondered if I would be able to even make such a thing.
Foundation paper piecing. I had never heard of that either. So I looked it up and whoa Nellie it looks both easy and hard at the same time. And time consuming too! I don’t know if I would have the patience to do that. What am I saying? I know I don’t have the patience for it.
But I still want to try. Not to the tune of $935 and a year of my life to make a single quilt… But maybe something small.
Luckily the peeps over at DuckaDilly offer a couple of free foundation paper piecing templates on their website so I think I’ll give one of those a try. Maybe the conversation coasters or the kaleidoscope pattern. Seems doable enough, right?
Do YOU know anything about foundation paper piecing? Is it out of my league?
Gaaa! That quilt is so pretty!
~Mavis
christa says
If you’ve never visited the astoundingly fabulous Liberty of London store you must add that to your list! The fabric and crafts dept is my favorite place to spend lots of pounds Foundation paper piecing is fun, and that pattern is fairly simple—I’ve only made wall hanging sized quilts with this method, not anything nearing a king sized bed, but I think you might enjoy it.
Mavis Butterfield says
I had never heard of Liberty of London before but now I want to go!! And they serve afternoon tea as well.
sandy says
Liberty of London is well worth a visit. I bought 2 yards of fabric several years ago and still have it-it is precious cargo. Too precious to make anything, but worked into a quilt would be amazing. I have a tote bag too.
J Crew sells Liberty fabric clothing and I was able to buy napkins at a great discount.
The store in London is like visiting a museum. Furniture, metal work, art, home goods. Worth a trip to London for sure. It is in a beautiful building. Oh darn, now I want to go back to London ASAP… cheers.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks says
Oh, it is beautiful! Such lovely colors and concept. The quilting-with smoke coming from the house chimney and the sweet walkway! WHAT a quilt. I can see why you wanted it!
Pam says
Mavis, you HAVE to try foundation paper piecing!
It is the easiest, fastest, most creative quilting. All your blocks come out the perfect size…no trying to sew bias edges, and you can use any fabric from cotton, silk, lame etc. You should get book that has instructions as well as some patterns. Then go to QUILT BLOCKS GALORE online, zillions of free patterns! Carol Doak has written several books that were where I learned.
I made library bags for all my grandkids with blocks of kittens, puppy’s, birds, etc. I make tote bags from placemats then put a block on the front, make great wine bags cause they are so sturdy. Its a fantastic way to use up leftover fabric.
Nancy Hager says
The quilt is lovely. It looks like a temperature quilt the way it is colored. I have done paper piecing and love/hate it. Love the accuracy of the piecing hate how time consuming and what I consider waste as you trim off the excess fabric. Liberty is very nice fabric but I would find it difficult to spend that much on a kit. Then again I have quilt fabric like you have wool, an abundance.
Jo Griffith says
Foundation piecing is not hard. Use a 90/14 needle and a small stitch length so you can tear the paper foundations off when you are finished making the top.
Jody says
I learned foundation paper piecing a few years ago and it was challenging at first. But once I figured it out it was so much fun. I made a full size quilt using fat quarters and fabric from my stash.
Jeanine says
They have 0 (zero) left …. So no worries. I have friends that do paper piecing quilts. They don’t have as much to do as you. You’re a busy lady…and just think gardening season is just around the corner.
Margo says
If you want to try it start with something with larger pieces or a much smaller overall size. I do some quilting, but haven’t tried paper piecing. I do know that if you are going to make a king sized quilt you would likely have to pay someone with a long arm machine to do the quilting after it’s pieced together. A friend of mine had her queen sized quilt done after she finished the piecing and it cost her over $300 to get it done. I just stick to nothing bigger than a twin size so I can do them at home on my machine. Large quilts, much like large hooked rugs, are an investment of time and money. I’ve had a few end up as a “ufo” (unfinished object) when I got frustrated and had to put it away for a while.
Pj Truman says
Former quilt teacher here… this is not out of your league and you can make it yourself for a reasonable price. I paper pieced an original design quilt that exhibited in the Houston International Quilt Show. Paper piecing is great for getting sharp points and odd angles. What I don’t like about it is ripping off all of the paper and the strain that puts on the seams. I copied all of my paper piecing patterns at Office Max. The trees could be traditionally pieced in this quilt, with your own pattern. Fabric is everything to a quilt and Liberty of London is exceptionally good fabric with a wonderful hand/feel to it.
angie davy says
I find tearing the paper off after piecing very tedious, for that reason I don’t care for it. But a small project is definitely worth trying!
Cindy Brick says
This is not that hard! But it does require you to think “bass-ackwards” from how piecing usually goes — because technically you are sewing on the back of the pattern, rather than the front. However, it’s incredibly accurate. The bad part is having to pull out all that paper after the top is done. (I did a Pineapple queen-sized quilt once that took hours and hours. Thank God for boring movies.)
The pattern you’re showing is not hard at all. It only uses a few basic blocks, repeated over and over, and could easily be drafted. (I can help, if you’re interested.) Fabric at a quilt shop is running far less than $40/yd, though I have sewn with LL fabrics, and they are nice. (Do they sell scrap bundles? Or fat quarter bundles? Or strips? Just a thought.) So no, you do not have to pay the money this kit is demanding.
I do have to warn you that some don’t find paper foundation piecing that fun. My mom, a dedicated quilter, hated it. But after I got used to the “bass-ackwards” feeling, I kind of enjoyed it. And my colleagues at Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine exclusively used it for making group quilts — because it WAS so accurate.
Patti says
Liberty of London is top notch fabric for clothing so I bet it is a dream for quilts.. I think a smaller project would be a good start and allow you to feel the fabric and understand its allure. Follow on the DuckaDilly instagram page as they will have sales. You can grab some pieces and collect them to make a quilt of your own design. Or, if you continue to dream about this one, just save up for it and enjoy every minute of it. Life is for “the good stuff” and this would be something you would use for a lifetime.
Katherine says
Why not you make yourself a couple of pillows in the style of this quilt and try your hand at paper piercing? Just a suggestion from someone that doesn’t quilt or sew.
Sue says
I have a few quilt blocks that my mother and granny did in the 50’s.
Was done by cutting out the pattern paper from news papers and of course is very yellow now. They did the hand stitching in the 40’s and 50’s and had the
quilt hung from the ceiling in the bedroom, hung from the four corners.
All quilting was done by hand, I’ve often wondered what happened to that frame.
Sheri says
Paper piecing is easy, you just have to get your mind around it. This is an easy pattern, liberty fabric is very expensive, but you could pick your own fabric. I saw this quilt before Christmas and have been thinking about it…….you have good taste
Dawn says
This acts like it might be addictive….such beautiful designs they have out there. Just lovely!
Wendy Lato says
JoAnn fabrics carries some Liberty of London fabrics. There is always a 40% off coupon online to use. Good luck.
Torry says
I was thinking that a wallhanging would make a good first paper piecing project. I loved all the suggestions by those quilters who have tried this method of piecing.
If you decide to try making something and you don’t want to spend big bucks, go to a quilt store and ask them to help you find fabric with a good hand. Most people who work in quilt stores love helping both the beginners and the very experienced.
Kathy says
It is super easy, but just be careful what paper you use. Thinner is better. I like Carol Doak’s foundation paper, it tears really easily to get it back out at the end.
Jillbert says
I foundation pieced one quilt — my first and only quilt. It was the Harry Potter Project of Doom pattern – a bookcase with objects related to the series. I had so much fun sourcing the scraps to use (parts were from my kids clothes). I embroidered the books with names and initials of my kids & family members and special things in our life. It took about a year for me to complete in spurts of productivity. It turned out amazing! Probably not a beginner-level quite (yeah, definitely not) but I figured it out and had so much fun. That pattern above looks lovely but the price would give me pause, too.