A wee bit of history about English Paper Piecing (“EPP”):
The technique originated in England in the 1700s and became popular in the early 1800s. The earliest known EPP quilt is from 1718 and still has its original paper templates; it belongs to The Quilters Guild of the British Isles.
Godrey’s Ladies Book published the first hexagon pattern in 1835. Since paper at that time was expensive, many people reused old letters, catalogs, and newspaper articles. At that time, the papers were often left in the quilt to provide an additional layer of insulation. The technique became popular again in the 1920s and 1930s in the United Sates and was popular during the great depression due to being able to use scraps of fabric. EPP was again revived in the 1980s… and it is currently enjoying another resurgence!
The most common EPP shape is the hexagon. A popular pattern, known as Grandmother’s Flower Garden, involves sewing hexagons into a flower shape which are then sewn together into one larger quilt. Other common shapes include diamonds, triangles, jewels, pentagons, clam shells, and more. There are hundreds of videos online with multiple ways to do EPP, the fun is learning which technique works best for you. EPP is a slow process as the quilt top is done completely by hand; however, the papers help achieve accuracy that may be difficult with machine piecing.