Hello all, Mary Ellen here.

I am getting back to some serious sewing time. I’ve taken a bit of a break for about 3 weeks now where I have only sewn a little bit here and there. Now it’s back to my usual mode-several hours each day at the machine. Some of it is sewing for my part-time job making samples or preparing for lessons I’ll teach, some is working on my own pattern pieces to sell, some is for myself (or friends or family). Generally I love it but it’s been nice also stepping back a bit to spend more time at other interests I have.

I’ll soon be teaching a class to paper foundation piecing beginners. I am working on my notes. Is it just me or is this technique one that needs demonstration much more than written instruction? I’m finding even in notes for myself to refer to, diagrams are much better than words. I have referred to several books I own to see how other folks have explained it, and they too use lots of pictures. Of course over the years that I have enjoyed this technique I have picked up bits and pieces from many “expert” techniques. These directions I am trying to write could go on for pages! I doubt that’s what a beginner wants to see when opening up a pattern pack. Hmm. I’ll keep at this…photos? video? diagram? paragraphs? one-liners?… What to do?

How did you learn to paper piece? If you haven’t, is it because of a bad experience with your first project? If that’s it, what can I do to help my students avoid a similar experience? If you love to paper piece, why? How or what did you learn that has made you enjoy this technique?