Chase Handcraft

I found another sewing hobby: English Paper Piecing. When I first heard of EPP I thought, “ooohhh, Never!” It sounded so tedious, so boring. basting tiny paper shapes with fabric and sewing an entire quilt by hand did not sound appealing….. Then it happened. Everywhere I looked I started to see EPP examples. Little by little by resistance was chipped away. Then I found Millefiori Quilts – Las Passacaglia, which look like a kaleidoscope in quilt form. The DIY Addict has a site with information, photos, great directions for getting started and supplies to purchase through her Etsy shop.

Las Passacaglia quilts designs b(y Willyne Hammerstein) can be a lot of fun. I only have 2 rosettes so far, but each shape is “fussy cut” by choosing what part of the design works for that area and can be repeated.

To start EPP the shapes can be basted or glued, then sewed together. I’ll add more on another post about which works for me, but I really like the technique shown by CraftyPod in her YouTube tutorial about getting started with EPP. I started with glue basting, went back and forth thread basting and glueing, and have ended up thread basting for the moment. I read a few blogs about women sewing on their commutes and figured I would try the same. The commute to Seattle can take over an hour and gets more frustrating when traffic is stalled, so I started basting EPP shapes on my bus ride. Problem solved! My shapes get done and I come home refreshed and relaxed after work!

There are 4 large rosettes and 31 rosettes in all for the quilt. So far I have one large rosette complete and one half done. This project is about the journey….a long, long journey. I’ll post progress, but am expecting this to be a 3-5 year term.