I decided last minute to spend a few days with my Mom this past week. Before leaving, before packing my clothes, I rummaged through my EPP desk and found a pack of 2″ diamond templates. I quickly cut out 60 different diamonds of AG fabrics and put them in a baggie, along with a spool of grey thread, an Elmer’s glue stick ( which turned out to be almost empty), and my Sewline glue pen with a refill (both empty.) I then neglected to pack my usual EPP kit, containing my La Passion project (along with needles and thimble dots). I was pretty excited to realize it was missing when I arrived at her house, 230 miles from home. I also forgot to bring pajamas and a hairbrush.
I got started by gluing the diamonds down to the back of the fabric. I glue thoroughly, so that the papers will stay attached and give the star body once completed. I then turn the fabric around to the front, gluing a bit in from the edge. I use wonder clips to hold the points tightly. I ran out of glue about 1/2 way through, and nearly went mad before I found Mom’s glue stick.
Luckily, Mom has a sewing kit and I was able to find a needle (Dritz quilting between – terrible to EPP with.) I was very pleased with a surprise trip to Quilted Threads, which stocks Tulip needles. They practically jump through the fabric on their own.
For my first three Moravian Stars I matched the fabric on each of the faces. This time I wanted to do it differently. Rather than have each face relate to itself, I wanted the three sides of the star points match. I sorted my fabric into 20 piles of 3 similar colors. I selected 5 different color sets, then stitched the first face together. I then matched up the remaining pairs to the points they needed to align with. I then added new color groups in slowly, being sure everything would match up. It was complicated to do, and is even harder to explain.
The construction is the same, but getting the colors in the correct positions was tough. I had to go very slowly to keep everything properly sorted.
I am very happy with the way this one turned out.
I did a tutorial on putting together a star, if you need more help.
My niece was kind enough to keep me company during stitching. She is doing some kind of no-look sketching for art class. It’s nice to craft with someone whose goal is also crazy.
You can see a video of me using my sewing machine to help speed up the process here.
It was interesting ( and a little mind boggling) to see how this project came together. Beautiful!
Thank you! I will do one with better photos at some point.
It’s beautiful!
Thank you!
Oh my! This is gorgeous! Is this your pattern? I would love more info. My husband and I are headed out in our motorhome for a month and EPP is great. And I do love me some Alison Glass too!
There is a link in the post to a tutorial I wrote last year. You need 60 60-degree diamond templates. I wouldn’t go larger than 2″, and I think the 1″ or 1.5″ diamond are the best. I get my papers from paper pieces.com. Let me know if you need more help.
Such a lovely little pattern, I’m following your tutorial to make some Christmas (eesh) decorations out of scraps from last years stash, it’ll be my first paper piecing project EVER so i’m pretty excited, this one looks lovely.
Have fun! Send me a photo when you are done – I would love to see what you make. Let me know if you have any problems. I might be able to help.