English Paper Piecing

Welcome, friends, to the gentle, rhythmic world of English Paper Piecing.

If you’ve ever longed for a craft that helps you slow down while creating something truly beautiful, you’re in exactly the right place. English Paper Piecing — often called EPP — is a hand-sewing quilting technique where fabric is wrapped around precise geometric paper shapes (think hexagons, diamonds, and other tessellating forms) and then carefully stitched together by hand. The result? Crisp points, satisfying symmetry, and designs that look intricate but are wonderfully approachable.

In this workshop, you won’t just make something lovely — you’ll learn the foundations that make EPP so versatile and addictive. You’ll practice how to prepare and wrap your fabric neatly around paper templates, explore different basting methods, master the whipstitch that joins shapes together, and gain tips for fussy cutting and color placement that make your pieces truly shine. By the end, you’ll have both a finished project underway and the confidence to continue stitching on your own.

English Paper Piecing has a rich and practical history. Dating back to at least the 18th century, it became popular as a way to achieve accuracy in quilting before modern rulers and rotary cutters existed. Quilters often repurposed scraps of paper—letters, ledgers, even newspapers—as templates. One of the most well-known historical examples is the “Mosaic Quilt” associated with Jane Austen’s family, stitched entirely by hand. What began as a clever solution for precision became a cherished tradition — portable, thrifty, and deeply communal.

Today, EPP offers more than precision. It offers portability, mindfulness, and connection. It’s a craft you can take anywhere. It’s slow in the best way. Many people find the repetitive stitching calming and grounding — a creative practice that feels both productive and restorative.

I would love to work with you to set up an English Paper Piecing sewing workshop — whether for a guild, a community group, a creative retreat, or a cozy gathering of friends. Together we can create a welcoming space where participants leave not only with new skills and beautiful stitching, but with inspiration, confidence, and a renewed love of making by hand. Please drop me a line on tanya@butlerandgrace.co 

Let’s gather around the table and turn small pieces into something extraordinary.