This tutorial will show you how to make a super cute 3D Star using English Paper Piecing techniques. These stars can be made with Mini Charm Packs or scrap fabrics and turned into ornaments to decorate your Christmas Tree. We’re going to be using cardboard to give the shape rigidity.
This tutorial assumes you know how to do English Paper Piecing. If you're a beginner I recommended checking out Handmade by Emily Jane's tutorial here. English Paper Piecing is one of my favourite quilting techniques because it is done by hand, which means you can grab a cup of tea and put something to watch and stitch away!
My 3D English Paper Piecing Stars are just perfect for Mini Charm Packs! With a mini charm pack, you get a variety of coordinating fabrics from one collection. Each 2.5" square will yield you either one Pentagon or two Equitataral Triangles.
First, you’ll want to print the template onto paper, then transfer the two shapes onto card stock to make your templates. If your printer can handle it, you can print these straight onto cardstock. I'd also recommend using a pen to mark the templates so they don't accidentally end up in a star!
If you already have some English Paper Piecing pieces the correct size and shape you could use these as templates instead!
You can then use these templates to draw out more shapes onto card stock and these become your paper pieces, you'll need two 1" pentagons and twenty 1" equilateral triangles in total to make one star. They won't be reused, so if you want to make extra stars you'll need to make more.
Place the card stock on the wrong side of your fabric and draw around with a fabric marker leaving a 1/4" border. Use your fabric scissors to cut out the fabric following the lines you have drawn.
Then using the glue pen on the overhang, smooth the overhang onto the card stock as shown in the photos. Do this to each edge until all the sides are glued down. Repeat this step for all the shapes. Sometimes in English Paper Piecing, you can thread-baste your shapes, but for these stars, I recommend sticking to glue.
Take ten of your triangles and pair them up. Places two triangles together, right sides together and whip stitch with needle and thread down one edge as you normally would when doing English Paper Piecing. This will make five diamond shapes, put these aside.
Then take your two pentagons and sew the remaining triangles to each edge to make two stars.
Take one of your stars, then add your five diamonds to the outside edges as shown.
Then take your remaining star and join it to the bottom as shown in the photo above.
You can then add your string if you wish to make the star into an ornament. I knotted my yarn and then sewed it to the inside of the star so that it pokes out at a star point.
As shown in the first photo bring together the edges, and whip stitch from the outside. Do this until all the edges are joined, making sure the string for hanging in on the outside.
All finished and ready to hang! I'm looking forward to seeing all the 3D English Paper Piecing Stars you make! If you share your photos, be sure to tag @flosscandyshop so I can see them!
There are other 3D shapes you can create using English Paper Piecing and I hope to post tutorials in the future.
Earth Day is upon us and what better than a free project using fabric scraps? I've been reading lots of books recently, rediscovering my childhood love and this inspired me to design a fabric bookmark.
Another love of mine (I have many) is Ruby Star Society Fabric Selvages! Usually the selvage (or selvedge) is just something you cut off and discard. But RSS's selvages come in cute colours with the designer's and collection's name printed on them.
This project uses Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP) and assumes you know how to do this technique. If you're a beginner check out this tutorial from gnome angel here
The finished size of the bookmark is 3 by 8", plus tassel.
Feel free to share this pattern/project with friends and sell the finished items! I'd love to see what you make so please tag me on social media (@flosscandyshop on most platforms).
Materials/Supplies
Instructions
1. Selvages can be kinda tricky to work with, I pressed and starched mine first to make it a bit easier.
2. Download, print & cut out the template (make sure to print at 100%). Trim your Selvages to 8.75" long, keeping the longer lengths to make the tassel later. Use the FPP method to sew the six selvages to the template. Depending on the width of your selvages you might need to place your selvages so that there's less than a 1/4 seam. If you find a seam bursts a bit when you remove the paper, don't panic - we'll be topstitching over the seams later.
3. Once all six selvages are sewn to the template, remove the paper.
4. Then using your rotary cutter and mat trim the fabric to the size of the template. This piece is now called the Bookmark Top.
5. Place your Bookmark Top right side facing up. Take your leftover long Selvages, pair them up and then place them on top of your Bookmark Top, right sides facing down. Make sure they're a 1/4" away from the long edges and overhanging the short edge by about 1/4". (In the photo I accidently placed a couple right side facing up, oops! We'll be tying a knot later it worked out okay!)
6. Place your 3.5 x 8.5" quilting cotton fabric on top, right side facing down and line up the edges. Pin together, tucking the long selvages in away from the edges (except the overhang).
7. Sew around the edge a 1/4" in, leaving a gap so you can turn the bookmark the right side out.
8. Turn the bookmark the right side out and give it a good press, making sure the seam allowances of the gap are turned in.
9. Using a longer stitch, top stitch around the perimeter. Then using a zig zag stitch, top stitch on top of the selvage seams.
10. Tie a knot using the selvage lengths, making sure there's enough ease for the bookmark to lie flat.
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Introducing The Moon Rise Quilted Wall Hanging, an easy to make project that incorporates English Paper Piecing, Applique & Traditional Piecing. It features hand stitched moons in various phases that are appliqued on a background fabric, then quilted and bound like a traditional quilt. I also added some iron on Moths using Bondaweb. This is a free tutorial that goes through the basic steps of making the project and I’ve included some downloadable templates.
(Click To Download)
This project features quilting cotton fabric from the Twirl collection designed by Sarah Watts for Ruby Star Society and the moths are from The Firefly Collection. I just love the metallic accents and the colours go so well together. You can shop the Twirl collection here and The Firefly Collection here.
Fabric A |
Background Fabric - 1/4 metre (long quarter) | Twirl On Galaxy By Ruby Star Society | |
Fabric B | Full Moon, Stripe & Binding - 1/4 metre (long quarter) | Twirl On Berry By Ruby Star Society | |
Fabric C | Half Moon & Stripe - Fat Eighth, Fat Quarter or Long Quarter | Twirl On June By Ruby Star Society | |
Fabric D | Crescent Moon, stripe & Backing - ¼ metre (long quarter) | Twirl On Peony By Ruby Star Society | |
Optional Moth Motifs
|
Fat Eighth | Glow Moth On Fire By Ruby Star Society |
Step 1
Download the templates and the print them without any scaling. There’s a 1 inch box on the first page which you can measure to make sure they’ve printed at the correct size. You can either print them straight onto card stock or transfer them onto it. Cut out each template including the background shapes. These templates are what we are going to use to form our moons, when you use them to cut out the fabric, you’ll need to trace a ¼ seam allowance around them.
Step 2
Cut the following fabric. Making sure when you use the templates to add a quarter inch seam allowance using a marking pen.
Step 3
Take your templates and a glue pen. Place the template on the wrong side of the fabric. Put glue on the seam allowance and fold the fabric onto the template like you would when making shapes for English Paper Piecing. The curves can be quite fun, I’d recommend pressing down the fabric at intervals. Glue down the inner curves of the Half Moon and Crescent Moon first and then the outer curve.
Step 4
Hand sew together the Half Moon to the Half moon Background and the Crescent Moon to the Crescent Moon background using a whip stitch. If you find it hard because of the curve you can place the pieces flat butted together as seen in the photo. Don’t trim anything.
Step 5
Take your 8 x 23” piece of Fabric A, fold it in half down the length and with an iron press it so that you have a crease running down the length. You can then use this crease to line up your moons. Place your moons on the crease making sure they’re evenly spaced, Full Moon, Half Moon & then Crescent Moon. You can use a glue pen to secure them. Make sure any excess fabric is tucked under. Applique the moons to the fabric.
Step 6
Take your 8 x 3.5” pieces of Fabric D, C & B. Machine sew them together as shown in the photo and then sew onto the bottom of the 8 x 23” piece of Fabric A (the one you’ve appliqued the moons to). Press Seams open.
Step 7
Now we will remove the paper templates. Flip over the wall hanging, you’ll see the stitches you made when appliqueing the moons onto the fabric. Carefully cut out the fabric a ¼ inch inside of the stitching. Remove the papers. Give it a good press with an iron.
Step 8
Using your Wall Hanging Front, wadding & backing make a quilt sandwich and quilt as desired. Make quilting binding and bind it. From the leftover binding you can make little loops for your wooden batton and hand sew them onto the back.
Step 9
If you wish to add the motifs, take your Moth fabric and iron on the Bondaweb to the back sticky side down. Let the Bondaweb cool down and before removing the paper carefully cut out your Moths. Remove the paper backing and place the moths down on your wall hanging and then use your iron to fuse the moths onto it. I used three motifs but you can use more if you'd like!
Just add your wooden batton and string and enjoy! I hope you enjoyed making the Moon Rise Quilted Wall Hanging. If you post it on social media don't forget to tag @flosscandyshop so I can see it!
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