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Paper piecing is one of my favorite things to do! You can take an ordinary page and turn it into a masterpiece with the few snips of your scissors and a little patience....no a LOT of patience! There are numerous paper piecing patterns available to scrappers these days, (see Never Ending Memories for some great deals....a shameless plug for my cousin's site!) If you don't have a pattern do what most of us do at first....go through your children's coloring books! You can take any coloring book page and use it as a paper piecing pattern! The simplest way to do this (if you don't have a light table) is to take tracing paper and lay it over the coloring book page and trace each part of the picture (ie: an arm, a leg, a head) seperate from the rest of the picture. Then cut out each piece from the tracing paper. At this point you will choose what color card stock you want to use for your finished product. Turn the pattern piece over and place it on top of your card stock (same concept as a sewing pattern) and simply cut out the shape! Once you have cut out all the pieces of your pattern, my suggestion is to position the pieces as you would like to see them on your page before you actually adhere them to your pages....this way you can make any minor adjustments to the pattern pieces if need be. Next start adhering them to your page. It is best to place the larger pieces first...always keep in mind if pieces have to be tucked under other pieces, if this is the case leave the adhesive off of the area under which the other piece needs to be tucked, and adhere it when all the pieces are in their proper places. VOILA! It's that simple! Paper piecing patterns are done the same way, except the pattern is provided with each piece seperated on the page for you. I'm sure you will be thrilled with your results! You can incorporate your paper dolls and punch art to enhance the paper piecing to give it a more personal look or to coordinate it with the clothing or other items in the photos. Here are some wonderful examples of paper piecing provided by my friends and myself....ENJOY! And if you are brand new to the concept of paper piecing and have any questions please don't hesitate to email me and I'll be glad to help if I can!! (I love paper piecing and want everyone to learn how to do it!!!) |
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