I love the look of blocks that are paper pieced, sometimes called foundation paper piecing. While there are a lot of things I can wrap my mind around, paper piecing just isn’t one of those things. It’s like crown molding: everything is backwards and upside down. This is the reason you’ll never see a paper piecing tutorial from me!

[bctt tweet=”Paper piecing is like crown molding: everything’s backward & upside down. These pros are the best I’ve found at it. https://fortheloveofthread.com/?p=485″ username=”loveofthread”]

But paper piecing is too awesome for me to ignore it completely. So, I turned to my favorite paper piecers and bloggers to give you a round up of the best tutorials out there. Here’s what I found…

Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts

I consider Alyce to be a Queen of paper piecing. Her patterns and tutorials are so straight forward, and she gives really good tips on how to be better at the technique. The one time I wasn’t clear on something and left her a comment with a question, and she answered me right away. Not bad for me being in the US and her being in Australia!

If you want to dive right into a paper piecing project, her Milky Way Sampler is full of paper-pieced blocks that start out super easy and advance just enough to make you feel good about your skills but not so much you feel overwhelmed. If you want to wow your friends with a block that looks amazingly complicated but is rather quite simple, I really like her pompom block tutorial.

Sherry from Powered by Quilting

Sometimes I just need someone to tell me like it is. Paper piecing is definitely one of those times. What I like about Sherry’s tutorial is that anywhere it gets tricky – or you need to think “backwards” – she repeats herself in bold capital letters. Nothing like a good visual reminder to slow down and check yourself! Make sure you read all the way to the end for her FAQ section.

Faith from Fresh Lemons Quilts

Faith just might be the most organized paper piecer I’ve found! Her Star Quilt Block Tutorial is complete with a table to help you organize all your fabric so you’re sure to sew everything just the way you want and tips on how to stay organized as you go. Her advice to read through the tutorial – or any other pattern – is truly genius. When I remember to follow it. Many times that I haven’t understood a step in a paper pieced project, it’s usually answered in the next step.

Lee from Freshly Pieced

I discovered Lee when I did my first Summer Sampler in 2016. With each week’s block, she posts helpful tips and tricks for getting them done like a pro. So many of her paper piecing tips are head-smacking good, as in, why didn’t I think of that? Her Kansas Dust Storm tutorial includes simple instructions and pictures for everything – including showing you pitfalls to avoid having to get out the seam ripper.

Speaking of the seam ripper… As a reward for reading this far, I’m sharing the best link last. Lee wrote a tutorial for Bernina’s We All Sew blog showing you how to line up your pieces to ensure they cover the paper entirely, meaning you don’t have to rip out those tiny stitches needed for paper piecing. Mind. Blown. Seriously, when I read it I had another why didn’t I think of that? moment.

Are you ready to jump in and give paper piecing a try? Do you have a favorite tutorial of your own? I sure could use more education, so please leave me a link in the comments!