Tutorial: Foundation Paper Piecing (Freezer Paper Method)

I'll confess. I abhor pinning. I don't know why I just do. Maybe it's because I'm always jabbing myself with the little boogers. So if I can avoid it somehow, I do. Another peeve of mine is when my quilt blocks don't line up quite right, or are too small or large and my points get chopped off when I'm squaring up my blocks. Oh that just irritates me.I think that's why I really enjoy foundation paper piecing. My errors are practically eliminated!

So, here's how I do my paper piecing, step by step with photos.

You'll need some freezer paper. You can do this one of two ways, the quick and easy way is to purchase pre-cut sheets like these:

You can find them at Amazon.com

Or if you a roll of freezer paper on hand, or would prefer to buy a roll of it and make your own sheets, you can do that too. You can usually find freezer paper in the grocery store, by the aluminum foil and plastic wrap.

If you use the roll, the next steps will show you how to print on your freezer paper sheets.

Cut youself enough 8 1/2 x 11" sheets for your block. My block took 8, but I cut more than what I needed and stashed them away for later. Now grab some of your printer paper and head over to your ironing board.

Layer a sheet of freezer paper on top of your printer paper, shiny side down.

With a iron (no steam) on medium to med high heat, press the freezer paper onto your printer paper. You don't want to iron it too much or you'll have problems peeling it off later. Mainly make sure the edges are pressed down where the paper will feed into your printer.

Next, print your designs onto your freezer paper, and then peel your freezer paper off, and save the printer paper for later use! Pretty slick huh?

Now roughly cut out your foundation piece from the freezer paper.

 Before I go any further, make sure your sewing machine is ready, and shorten up your stitch length a bit.
This will help when it's time to remove the paper from the back of your piece.

Take your seam ripper and lightly score all of the seams/lines on your piece. Don't worry about the outside lines, you don't need to do those, we'll be trimming them later.

Now, start with the first piece of the block. Cut a piece of fabric just larger than needed (at least a quarter inch on all sides). Lay it RIGHT SIDE UP. Sorry, a patterned fabric would have shown this better.

You may need to pick up your paper and fabric and hold them up to a light to make sure that your fabric is set in the right location and is large enough. Make sure it goes all the way to the edge (or over the edge) of your foundation piece.

Press the fabric to the freezer paper.
By the way, a little iron like this is so handy! You'll be doing a LOT of pressing.

Now, fold your paper back on the score lines, and trim your fabric so it's 1/4" larger than the paper.
I apologize. I didn't get that good of a picture of this.

I actually trimmed this a little larger than a 1/4" by accident. I fixed it after the picture.

 Get your second piece of fabric just slightly larger than your next section,
and lay it WRONG SIDE UP over top of the first piece.

Line the edges up...

Cross your fingers, say a prayer (Just kidding! you'll be fine!)
Now, sew on the line between pieces one and two. You can sew all the way out to the end of the paper.

Fold the fabric over, and press.

Then flip your unit over, fold back the paper and trim your seams to 1/4" again.
Keep doing this for every piece, making sure you go in the order that the pattern tells you to.

Ah, it appears as though I have to take a break.
Apparently there's a singing cowboy who's come to play me a few tunes to break up my tutorial.

Okay. I'm back!

When you get done, you'll have a mess that looks like this! :)

Trim on the outer line - this is your seam allowance.

Now start to tear your paper off of the back. Be careful! You don't want to rip your seams out.
Folding and creasing the paper will help if it seems to be stuck

TA DA!!!! You have your first unit of your block done.
Don't those points look nice? OOOHHH! LOVE IT!

Keep working at it, piece by piece, making sure to go in the order the pattern tells you to.
And when you're finished, you'll have a Beautiful block with crisp lovely points!