When I set out to start English Paper Piecing, I was looking for a project that was easily transportable and required little focus. I’ve spent a fair bit of time since then feeling poorly or needing a hardcore mental break, so I’ve made more progress on this project than I initially thought I would in the two months I’ve had this as an option. I didn’t realise how quickly all those small pieces would work into something much larger. Honestly, when I was initially researching EPP I had it in my head that you basted all your pieces before you started stitching them together. When you look at all those beautiful social media posts, you see a lot of completed quilts, a fair number of storage solutions, and a lot of basted pieces. I’m sure somewhere in my brain I understood that you could start putting the pieces together before you basted all your pieces, but the thought hid out until I couldn’t find a reasonable solution to store the basted pieces I had completed. I know there are a couple of pictures of basted pieces stitched together, but I didn’t really put many pieces together since I was just trying to determine if I liked the method.

I have spent virtually nothing on this project. Over the years I have collected a variety of papers, threads, and fabrics. Since I found this while looking for a way to use up cabbage scraps, I felt compelled to try to use things I already had. So far, I’ve only purchased a few additional fat quarters and a few packs of needles. I am now beginning to understand why people have a LOT of opinions about the types of threads and needles they use. I’m really glad I chose to make a random, scrappy layout with this particular project, and am so far really pleased with the results. The best part about stitching the hexies together as I go is that I haven’t had to cut out anymore papers! I had no idea how tedious would find this and am thankful that I can rotate out previously used papers.

On Needles

I usually use number 10 sharps for all my hand sewing. They make small stitches much easier. They’re great for slip stitching quilt binding. I love them. Sharps are a good choice for hand quilting too. I found a good quality pack in one of my local craft shops, and it’s been lovely. Buying a good quality needle makes a world of difference when hand sewing. I didn’t really think about needle quality until I started hand stitching more things. So many sewing kits come with free needles, and it always seemed to make more sense to buy those cheap variety packs. So many of those needles have imperfections around the eye of the needle. Those imperfections can catch of your fabric or thread and make for a much less pleasant experience. That’s how I decided on good quality sharps. It’s made hand stitching so relaxing for me.

Since I already had needles I loved, I figured they would be just fine. As I worked through this project is that I was finding my typical needles to be fairly fiddly. These needles are fairly short, so thread basting wasn’t super quick. I was also bending the needles if I got too close the papers, and the repeated running over the paper seemed to almost chip parts of my needles. I honestly went through two of my needles before I decided to look at other needles. I was pushing towards frustration with the project rather than enjoying it, and it was coming down to the tools I was using.

A lot of EPPers use long milliners or straw needles in a size eight or nine (In this needle category, the smaller the number the larger the needle). I purchased a variety pack of milliners needles on Amazon so I could try out a couple different sizes. Oh. My. Gosh. The size nine changed how I felt about this project completely! I haven’t bent any of my needles, they’re still absolutely lovely, and they aren’t fiddly at all. I have since found some packs of just the size nine needles at one of the local quilt shops and now won’t have to buy any additional needles for a while since the variety pack only came with three or four of the size nine. I can’t emphasize how important it is to use the tools that help you best enjoy the project you’re working on.

On Thread

There’s a lot of debate out there about the “best” thread. Depending on which sewing community you’re in, you’ll see a lot of people preferring cotton, or polyester, or blends, or linen. In EPP the most common are cotton and polyester. In shops there are walls of threads in beautiful colours for all sorts of uses. It’s enough to make your head spin. Since I have acquired many spools of thread over the years, I had a fair number of choices. Since the basting threads are never seen, and the seaming threads are virtually invisible, you can get away without matching your threads to your fabrics exactly. Most places suggest neutral colours in a dark, mid, and light shade for all the seams. As long as you’re reasonably consistent with your stitches, you really can’t see them. I’ve experimented with a bunch of the colours, and even using light thread against darker fabrics, my stitches are still pretty invisible.

What I have found though, is that I have some pretty solid opinions on the thread I’m using. I’ve used an all purpose cotton, an all purpose polyester, and an all purpose quilting thread. Depending on which part I’m working on, I have favourites.

All Purpose Cotton: This is my favourite for stitching the seams. I feel like these make the most invisible stitches, and when used in conjunction with a thread conditioner makes the fewest tangles. Even with the conditioner, it does seem to the most prone to snapping, but this isn’t an issue if shorter lengths of thread are used. I have found that I can comfortably use approximately three-foot lengths without running into a snapping issue. I dislike basting with this thread because I don’t condition my basting threads, and snapping does become more of an issue.
All Purpose Polyester: This is my favourite for basting. Polyester thread is stronger than cotton threads, and incredibly slick in comparison. I don’t have to condition them either. When sewing seams, I have found that they tend to tangle on me most often, even when conditioned.
All Purpose Quilting: This type of thread is usually a blend of cotton and polyester fibers. I really enjoyed it when I was hand quilting the Star Gazing quilt earlier this year. I find it to be sort of meh for EPP. It’s basically the middle of the other two thread types I’ve listed here. I did find that it was more prone to snapping than the cotton threads I was using, which I found curious. If I had to choose only one type of thread for this project, I would probably use this type of thread, but I don’t have to, so I won’t. Overall, this thread was disappointing to me.

Where I’m At

I am in love with this project! Now that I have narrowed down my tools, this project is a joy. It’s been a great comfort while I’ve been sick or under the weather recently. I don’t have to think hard about basting hexies together, and everything I need to work on this project fits in my sewing box. I have some surprisingly large panels already started, and I haven’t had to cut out another paper hexagon. I can’t even begin to explain how much this pleases me.