A few months ago I was searching for a hand sewing project I could do in the evenings and weekends while relaxing with my family. I gave English Paper Piecing a try and fell in love. Here's why EPP is perfect for me:
- You don't have to cut anything in a straight line with a rotary cutter.
- It's all hand sewn.
- You only need scraps and my stash of quilting cottons is made up entirely of scraps.
After I finished my first doll quilt, I dove right into a second one. The hexies in this quilt are made from scraps of fabric collected over the last decade of sewing. Each one has a story and a memory associated with it. Some were given to me by blog readers and sewing friends, some I found thrifting, and some I bought for specific projects.
If you're interested in getting started with this technique Sister Diane over at Craftypod has been creating some terrific EPP instructional video tutorials. She covers the basics of basting, sewing hexies together, and even designing your own hexie templates using Google Draw.
I recently ordered this vintage book, Patchwork Playthings, to see some softies designed using EPP. The fabric it creates is really flexible and beautiful and I'm hoping to try incorporating EPP into some of my own softie patterns down the road.
This quilt isn't perfect, but I still find it to be beautiful and my doll, Emma, thinks it nifty, too. The third quilt will be better than the second and overtime I'll really get good at EPP. I'm looking forward to it!
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I have a new pattern out today. Meet Maya the Mermaid.
Maya is a super sweet doll. She's nice and big at 20" and very huggable. Check out that cute bikini top and the starfish in her hair. I think I had the most fun desining her flipper.
Maya is designed to be really durable. She's entirely machine sewn and is made from fleece so she can be machine washed if she gets dirty. Fleece is also really inexpensive, at least in the US, so you can make lots of dolls as gift for very little money.
The pattern comes with step-by-step photos to guide you along and full-sized templates you can print again and again. I hope you like sewing Maya! Download the pattern right here.
Abby,
I wanted to thank you for introducing me to EPP. I love your blogs and your patterns, so when you wrote about trying EPP in a post, I was intrigued and thought I’d give it a try. Now I am hooked; I’m working on a twin EPP quilt. Thank you for sharing! Both of your doll quilts look beautiful. Thank you!
I read your EPP story on your blog, Katie, and was so flattered that my post inspired you to begin. It’s so much fun. I’m about to start doll quilt #3.