Hello, my friends!
Many years ago, I wrote a full-length tutorial that has been available for sale in my various online shops.
Since I’ve retired from selling, but not from my love of paper piecing, today, I offer it to you for free.
Learn to Paper Piece with Sweet Skating Sue is now available as a FREE printable PDF download.
The step-by-step tutorial includes 23 pages of paper piecing goodness perfect for beginners.
You get photos and easy-to-understand instructions for paper piecing Sweet Skating Sue.
The pattern is also included in the tutorial, so you get everything you need to get started on your paper-piecing adventure!
Once you learn the basics using Sweet Skating Sue, you can tackle any project that includes paper piecing. There are thousands of patterns out there, making the possibilities of creating a special quilt project just for you absolutely endless.
Prefer a video approach? Paper Piecing Art: Beginner and Beyond, is a full-length class I created for a subscription-based platform back in 2012. Both the class and the pattern are absolutely free.
Way back in 2011, I was invited to be an instructor for STITCHED, a subscription-based online classroom community that offered workshops by experts in different craft-related areas. The entire shebang was conceived of and hosted an extraordinary artist, Alma Stoller.
My own workshop Paper Piecing Art: Beginner and Beyond, was geared to take students step-by-step through the paper piecing process.
I shared every tip and technique that I myself use when paper piecing. Now, over a year after the completion of the STITCHED 2012 Workshops, I offer my own class here, free for you.
If you’re already a paper piecer, you might pick up a trick or two; if you’re new to paper piecing or have tried before and it didn’t quite click, I hope this helps you on your paper piecing journey!
And, of course there will be prizes when you share your photos with my flickr group! Details on Tuesday.
There will be another VERY SPECIAL blog hop coming soon. It’s a secret for now, but I promise to post the minute I have the go ahead. I hope this one will be fun for you, too!
There are just over two months left to take advantage of the awesome that is STITCHED! Learn to paper piece with me now through December with my full-length video workshop available only through this subscription-based site. You get access to over 20 full-length workshops AND instructors, including myself. Registration is now only $40! Really, $40 for all those workshops…that’s less than $2 per class! Click here for details and support indie craft instructors like me!
STITCHED, where I am one of a multitude of awesome video workshop instructors, is almost six months old…woo-hoo!
It is also our wonderful founder, Alma Stoller‘s, birthday!
*throws confetti*
With six months still to go in this year-long endeavor, I am excited and thrilled to announce that registration has now been reduced from $89 to just $40!
That’s $40 for access to 20+ fabric workshops, including my own, Paper Piecing Art: Beginner and Beyond.
Just to put it in perspective, one three-hour class in real life will start at about $30. For just $10 more you can have access to more than twenty video workshops and all the instructors of those workshops for the next six months.
In my workshop, Paper Piecing Art: Beginner and Beyond, I take you through paper piecing step by step using an original pattern I designed especially for STITCHED! I share all my tips and tricks for making paper piecing both fast and fun and at the end, you’ll have an 8 1/2″ x 10 1/2″ piece of fabric art great for using in cushions, wall hangings, tote bags and more, plus the skills you need to tackle any paper pieced pattern!
Use your STITCHED project to make a cushion cover…
or a piece of art…
or get scrappy with a fun wall hanging!
Did I mention that all instructors, including myself are available for any question you might have?
Did I mention we have show and tell and special extras just for STITCHED members?
Did I mention that there are awesome giveaways each month just for STITCHED members?
No? Well, now you know!
That is some kind of serious bargain!
Treat yourself to 20+ workshops by experienced instructors and learn something awesome (and new!)….I hope to see you there!
We have TWO winners of the super cute owl fabric I used in my tutorial:
ladyoctavia
and
kimberlee
Congratulations, ladies, I hope you both enjoy your fabric!
Reminders:
In honor of my participation in the STITCHED Tutorial Blog Hop, get 15% off your TOTAL PURCHASE from the Sewhooked Shop during the month of March with coupon code MARCH15. Not valid on etsy or craftsy.
The Paper Pieced Pattern-A-Day blog hop is coming April 1, 2012! We have a full compliment of designers ready to share awesome Garden Party-themed FREE paper pieced patterns with you!
Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post!
Today, I thought we’d do something both fun and useful…make a cute oven mitt!
This is a project already had on my mind when the opportunity to participate in the STITCHED Tutorial Blog Hop came up. It seemed like the ideal time to make this project a reality!
Read through the post, then leave a comment for a chance to win one of two owl fat quarters! Winners announced Tuesday March 20, 2012!
Making an oven mitt is a great way to bring fun fabrics into your everyday life. I chose fabrics from my stash. You can do that, too, or use this as an excuse to buy a couple of new fat quarters. You can also incorporate quilt blocks or the recycled materials of your choice for a unique and fun oven mitt!
For each oven mitt you want to make you’ll need the following:
1 fat quarter for the outside, pressed
1 fat quarter for the inside, pressed
OR 1/2 yard for both inside and outside, pressed
Cotton batting, approximately fat quarter size (18″ x 22″)
Hobbs Thermore Batting or another batting made specifically for potholders, etc., approximately fat quarter size (18″ x 22″)
2 1/2″ x 18″ strip of fabric OR a scrap of quilt binding (shown)
First, we’ll prepare our pattern. Overlap the center lines and tape the pattern together, as shown.
Trim the excess paper from the pattern using your paper scissors.
Once printed and trimmed, the pattern should measure approximately 12 1/4″ from top to bottom.
Next, we’ll layer our fabrics. The owl fabric will be my “outside fabric” and the dot fabric will be my “inside fabric.”
These are layered together with the two kinds of batting just like for any quilt sandwich.
The fabrics face right sides out, with the Thermore directly under the “outside fabric.” It is important that the Thermore be directly under the “outside” fabric so that it will be closest to the heat when the oven mitt is in use.
Since we’re working with such a small area, we will not be pinning, instead, we will glue baste the fabrics to the two layers of batting.
Place dots of glue 6″ – 8″ apart directly on the batting.
You’ll do this for both the front (“outside”) and back (“inside”).
You do not need to baste the two layers of a batting together. They will grip to each other without glue.
Smooth the fabric to the batting. Once you’ve smoothed it by hand, take the quilt sandwich to your ironing board and press to remove any bubbles or creases. This will also help set the glue.
I chose free-motion for my quilt sandwich. How you quilt your sandwich is up to you.
If you free-motion your quilt sandwich, be sure to drop your feed dogs!
I decided to keep it simple and created a large meander to quilt the layers together.
For a simpler approach, you can try Straight Line Quilting. Here’s a great tutorial from Tall Grass Prairie Studio.
Once your sandwich is quilted, pin the paper pattern to the top or “outside.”
My fabric is directional, so I made sure that the owls would be pointed in the correct direction.
Using your fabric scissors, cut around the paper pattern.
For the second side of the oven mitt, turn the pattern over so you can cut the reverse with your fabric scissors.
You will have two pieces for your oven mitt. They should be mirror image.
Just for fun, here are the same two pieces from the other side!
Fold the 2 1/2″ strip in half and press OR use a binding remnant.
Align the raw edges along the “inside” fabric where the mitt opening will be.
If you were free-motion quilting earlier, remember to raise your feed dogs and change your presser foot.
Straight stitch the binding 1/4″ from the edge of the mitt.
Repeat for the second side.
When you fold the binding out, it will look like this.
Roll the binding to the outside. Top stitch near the edge of the binding using a straight or decorative stitch.
Repeat for other side of the mitt.
Your binding will look like this.
Trim off any excess binding.
Each side of the mitt is bound individually. You can opt to use continuous binding, but I find this to be a much simpler method.
Binding, from the other side.
Now, with right sides together, align the two halves of the oven mitt. This is going to be a thick sandwich!
You’ll be stitching through four layers of fabric and four layers of batting.
Stitch the oven mitt together using a generous 1/4″ seam. Back stitch at the beginning.
I was able to use my presser foot for a guide.
Back stitch on both sides of the thumb.
Back stitch when you get to the end.
Once the two sides are stitched together, snip the area between the thumb and fingers.
If you have Fabric Snips, this is a great time to use them.
Snip the curve for easier turning.
Snip the binding corners.
Now comes the hardest part…turning this guy right side out!
With your hand inside the mitt, tuck the end inside and grab on, slowing working the mitt until you have the mitt turned right side out.
If you need it, use a dowel rod to poke the rest of the mitt into shape.
The dowel rod is especially useful for the thumb! Be careful when working on the thumb, you don’t want to pop any stitches.
Here’s what your mitt looks like from the inside. Nice and thick to protect your hands from hot pans!
Ta-Da! We’re done!
You will have some scrappy bits of quilted material left. I used mine to make hand covers for my cast iron skillets!
And just for fun, this was my prototype. I made this one with a hand-drawn version of the pattern. By making a prototype, I was able to work out the tricker bits and figure out the best way to go about this project.
In honor of my participation in the STITCHED Tutorial Blog Hop, get 15% off your TOTAL PURCHASE from the Sewhooked Shop during the month of March with coupon code MARCH15. Not valid on etsy or craftsy.
The Paper Pieced Pattern-A-Day blog hop is coming April 1, 2012! We have a full compliment of designers ready to share awesome Garden Party-themed FREE paper pieced patterns with you!
Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win a fat quarter of the owl fabric used in this tutorial!
Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post!
Posts on this blog may contain affiliate links to help cover the cost of my website. I thank you for your generous support. ♥
Have you been hopping along with the STITCHED instructors this month? The tutorials have all been super fun, Be sure and check them out!
STITCHED is a subscription-based community with a slew of awesome instructors, workshops, prizes and more!
My STITCHED workshop is a comprehensive paper piecing tutorial. We make a block, from beginning to end, of an original pattern I designed just for STITCHED. I share all of my tips, hints and suggestions that I have accumulated from my years of paper piecing and teaching beginners.
My Blog Hop tutorial is March 15. Here’s a sneak peek!
In honor of my participation in the STITCHED Tutorial Blog Hop, get 15% off your TOTAL PURCHASE from the Sewhooked Shop during the month of March with coupon code MARCH15. Not valid on etsy or craftsy.
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And, we have a winner! Carol’s comment on my Learning Center post wins the free PDF pattern of her choice from the Sewhooked Shop!
Carol’s been a long-time Sewhooked reader and commenter. Her comment was an inspiration and such a surprise to me. Carol, please email me and let me know which pattern you’d like from the Shop. And? Congrats! Thank you so much for sharing your story!
Carol
Hi Jennifer, Something you may not know about me is that I was in a near fatal rollover in November, 2009. My recovery took a big leap when I stumbled onto your website. I was looking for pillowcase directions after reading about the One Million Pillowcase challenge. It wasn’t long before I became a dedicated FAN of TTMT. I have been so inspired by your patterns, your enthusiasm for trying new things, and the designing and crafting you do for good. You inspired me to take a beginning quilting class to renew very rusty skills. I tried paper-piecing when you drafted the Stars for Linus pattern and asked quilters to make and send blocks. It was a great feeling to complete a block – finishing something has been huge for me – and send it to you to become part of a larger project. When I read your article on the Quilting Gallery today and saw the beautiful examples, I was reminded about how you have played a major role in my recovery. I rediscovered my love for quilting, learned how to paper-piece, actually completed a block, made at least a dozen pillowcases (I also recommend your tutorial to folks) work very part time in a quilt shop, and hope to become skilled enough at paper piecing to teach a future class using your Tree Trimming pattern. All this took place because of you and your willingness to share with others! Thank you!!! Carol P.S. Your directions are concise and easy to follow. And, your examples are beautiful!
The Paper Pieced Pattern-A-Day blog hop is coming April 1, 2012! We have a full compliment of designers ready to share awesome free paper pieced patterns with you!
Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post!
I am absolutely thrilled to announce that am taking part in a Tutorial Blog Hop during the month of March that is brought to you by 10 STITCHED instructors, myself included!
STITCHED is a subscription-based community with a slew of awesome instructors, workshops, prizes and more!
Each one of the tutorials in the STITCHED Tutorial Blog Hop is unique and FREE, so definitely check out each of these blogs, learn something new and have some crafty fun!
In honor of my participation in the STITCHED Tutorial Blog Hop, get 15% off your TOTAL PURCHASE from the Sewhooked Shop during the month of March with coupon code MARCH15. Not valid on etsy or craftsy.
The Paper Pieced Pattern-A-Day blog hop is coming April 1, 2012! We have a full compliment of designers ready to share awesome free paper pieced patterns with you!
STITCHED is now open for business and I’m celebrating! Join myself and 19 other fabric artists for 20 unique workshops with loads of members-only content!
Now through midnight, get 50% off your total Sewhooked Shop instant download purchase! Use coupon code STITCHEDJAN1 for half-off your entire PDF order!
Look for a new block the first Wednesday of each month, with each block being a surprise as we journey with Bilbo!
Fandom In Stitches patterns are designed by fans, for fans and are free of charge.
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Find myself and the other Talk To Me Tuesday vloggers every Tuesday as we share our crafty goodness, ideas and challenges on the TTMT Livejournal Community and on our YouTube Channels.
There are lots of very crafty ladies currently making TTMT videos. The variety of talents is endless and always inspiring!
In November of 2012, I will celebrate my tenth year as a Linus Connection volunteer! I have spent almost all of those years at the Linus webmistress and am now on my second go as a Board Member.
I’m currently in charge of blanket packing and distribution during our monthly meetings, which simply means I make sure each facility gets what they need from the donated blankets we receive. I also write all the blog posts for our group, as well as take care of our Facebook and Twitter pages.
You will hear me talk about “Linus” a lot. When I do, I’m always referring to The Linus Connection of Central Texas, a small non-profit based right here in Austin.
My personal goal is 2 blankets a month, or 24 blankets per year.
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In 2012, I will continue to collect Stars for Linus (see above!). In 2011, we donated 3 Stars for Linus quilts to The Linus Connection. This year, let’s try to make it 4!
Each quilt block needs to be 12″ (12 1/2″ unfinished) and made in bright colors with a light background.
You can find my mailing address on the Stars for Linus pattern. For best results, print without scaling. If your pattern scales down, simply make the borders a little bigger and then square up to 12 1/2″!
Share your story of quilting on your own blog and post your photo in our flickr group!
Well, I guess that about sums it up! This week I’m planning a look back at 2011 as well as my 12 for 2012 post. I hope you are having a very happy new year!
Don’t forget, now through midnight, get 50% off your total Sewhooked Shop instant download purchase! Use coupon code STITCHEDJAN1 for half-off your entire PDF order!
Watch my 2012 STITCHED Workshop, Paper Piecing Art: Beginner & Beyond for free. 🙂
Print Waiting for Rain, the pattern used in the video above.
Trim the excess paper from the pattern using your paper scissors.
In 2012, I will continue to collect 
Sewhooked 