How to Baste Patchwork Fabric to Paper Templates
Tacking Fabric Patches Onto Foundations for English Paper Piecing
Sep 14, 2009
In English Paper Pieced Patchwork, the basting (also known as tacking) of the fabric pieces to the papers is an important step towards the completed work. After the pieces are basted to their papers, the needleworker can, for the first time, see how the finished patchwork shapes will look against one another. This is the last chance to change a fabric that doesn't look right against the others. As always in any kind of patchwork, unused patches can often be used in future projects, so if one fabric shrieks that it isn't right where it is being placed, it is better not to use it.
Which Shape is Best to Start With
The easiest shape to prepare for a first piece of English paper piecing is the hexagon. There are no sharp inset corners or difficult points to deal with whilst mounting the papers, and the four bias edges are not on true bias (45 degrees to the warp and weft threads) and so don't usually stretch out of shape much.
Pure cottons are usually the easiest to use for a first piece anyway, and cotton is comparatively easy to handle in this regard. One inch hexagons are a good size to start with (hexagons with each side one inch in length), because they are easy to handle and don't waste large amounts of fabric in seams as smaller pieces can do.
Materials Required for Basting the Pieces
It is perfectly possible to buy large reels of cotton thread sold specifically for basting. This is perfectly acceptable as is any kind of ordinary sewing cotton. Cotton usually works best at this stage because it has a slight nap, which helps to hold the basting threads in place until it is time to remove them. There will be no knots in this patchwork!
A sewing needle of approximately size 8 will also be required, and the best type to use is a packet of Sharps all the same size. It will probably be necessary to change needles a few times during the work anyway, and if a packet of assorted different sizes of needles is purchased most will never be used, ending up wasted. It's therefore far better to buy a packet of one type.
Dressmaking shears or embroidery scissors will be necessary for snipping the threads. These should be sharp so that the thread does not fluff or fray when snipped. Frayed sewing thread is incredibly difficult to thread on a fine needle.
Those with less than perfect eyesight might like also to purchase a needle threader. This can make life a lot easier when trying to push thread through the eye of a fine needle, but be sure that the threader will go through the eye of the needle. One of the traditional threaders which are metal with a piece of wire folded on one end usually works just fine.
Dressmakers' stainless steel pins are also handy for holding the fabric in place against the paper until it is securely stitched down.
Sewing the First Patch to the Fabric
- Place the cut fabric against the paper template, with the wrong side of the fabric facing the paper.
- Making sure that the piece of paper lies straight with the two sides of the fabric that are on grain, pin it in place.
- Fold one of the two sides of the fabric which are on the grain over the template. Don't stretch the fabric, just feel where the edge of the paper is and fold over it.
- Take the threaded needle (remember, no knots) and push it through the fabric seam and paper template from the side with the paper facing you through to the fabric side (which will be the front of the work). The needle should be at the right hand side of the seam, about 1/4 inch from the edge of the paper template. Pull it through, leaving about an inch of thread which will hold the piece in place.
- Bring the needle back to the paper side again by pushing it through from the fabric side to the front. It should come up about 1/4 inch from the left edge of the paper template.
- Fold the next seam down. This seam will be on the bias so care must be taken not to stretch or buckle it. Again, be gentle and allow the fabric to follow the edge of the paper piece.
- Follow steps 4 and 5 again to repeat the basting on the next seam. Only one basting stitch is necessary per seam on a one inch hexagon, which is about the easiest size to make, More may be needed on larger pieces.
- Repeat the folding down of the seam and basting right round the paper template till all sides are basted down.
- To secure the last corner, take one more basting stitch through the first seam that was basted, and trim the thread about 1 to 1 1/2 inches from the patchwork piece.
At first this process will necessarily be a slow one but soon the work will become easy. Basting the pieces to their foundations is an exciting process because after basting it is the first time that one really gets to see what the finished piece looks like. It is then difficult to wait until it is time to start sewing the pieces together!
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