Tip Tuesday: Paper Piecing

Today we would like to share some tips for paper piecing.

Tip #1
When cutting apart a die cut, cut to the outside of the dotted areas.

Tip #2
Have a fine set of tweezers at the ready for those tiny pieces like eyes and bowties.

Tip #3
Instead of exact cutting you can tear your paper piecing project. Think of palm trees and beaches.

Tip #4
To ensure a perfect match between two halves of a pieced die cut, use temporary adhesive to glue the two pieces together before cutting, then separate the pieces. The pieces will match perfectly since they were cut together.

Tip #5
Not all parts of an image have to be pieced. Stamp the main image on the background or base paper. Stamp it again on patterned paper. Cut out one or two focal pieces out of the patterned paper and glue in place on the base. Sometimes less is more.

Tip #6
Use paper punches to create "pieced" quilts. Punch small shapes out of paper, then punch squares around the hole that was punched. Place the same shape punched from a different paper into the hole. Especially fun to use this technique with little ducky punches and pastel colors for a baby quilt. Mix up patterned and solid papers to build your quilt.

Tip #7
Torn papers are great for piecing fuzzy critters like bears, bunnies, puppies, etc. Mulberry papers are especially good for torn paper piecing techniques. To tear the paper more easily, wet the paper where it is to be torn with a fine paint or water brush.

Tip #8
Use fine-tipped, sharp scissors only when paper piecing. The right tools are essential to get the best results!

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