My Favourite Tools - Foundation Piecing

The last few weeks have seen me working on a foundation pieced border for this seasonal wall hanging:

 Just in time for Halloween the pattern is now available in my Craftsy Pattern Store. Well, to be honest, not quite released in time to make it for this Halloween, but I have heard a little rumour that there will be another Halloween next year :)

The outer 2 borders on this wall hanging are created with Foundation Piecing, also called Paper Pieceing. For a while, I wasn't a fan of this technique. I loved the amazing, perfectly pieced quilts that I saw others make with Foundation Piecing, but when I tried it, I found it fiddly and my fabric pieces would not cover the areas that they were supposed to cover!

A kind friend gave me some tips and around the same time, I attended a new product talk at my (then) local sewing shop. A few new tools came home with me and suddenly my Foundation Pieced projects started to play nice.

So these are some of my favourite tools for when I am Foundation Piecing.

Olfa Rotating Cutting Mat:
I use the smaller 12 inch size, but both are great to use. The motion of the mat is smooth and I can place my foundation and trim it as needed without wishing for extra motion in my wrists.

Clover Hera:
This little tool is actually designed for marking fabric and I do use it for that as well. When I am Foundation Piecing, I use my Clover Hera to score my Foundation Patterns so that they fold exactly on the stitching line.

 This step is important for accuracy when I use the next tool.

Add-A-Quarter Ruler:
This is the tool that changed my relationship with the Foundation Piecing technique. I use the Add-A-Quarter Ruler to trim the seam allowance to 1/4 inch, just before I add the next piece of fabric.

Then the next piece of fabric is placed right sides together with the raw edges even. It is easy to pin the fabrics to the Foundation Pattern, flip the new fabric and check that it will cover the next section. So much easier than the way that I originally worked.

28mm Rotary Cutter:
I like to use this smaller than normal rotary cutter for working with the small pieces in Foundation Piecing. I feel that I have more control over the cutting and less chance of cutting myself in the process. I also like that the safety cover for the blade is always present. It just moves aside with the pressure used when cutting.

Now that I am feeling inspired by my most recent Foundation Pieced border, I am working on a couple of Foundation Pieced ornaments, just for Christmas! More details soon.