Piece by Piece ~ FREE Mini Introductory Course
Welcome to this FREE mini introductory course on paper piecing {these patterns are also fun for FABRIC}! I’ve been designing fabric and paper products and projects for over 20 years and have taught these concepts throughout the world via publication and in person. I founded Fancy Pants Designs, Inc, a paper & scrapbook manufacturer in 2004 and jumped into the paper crafting world with both feet at that time. I always loved memory keeping from a young age~ collecting stickers, cutting my photos into shapes and journaling my memories on paper. With that love of paper, I quickly discovered that I wanted to create my own specific embellishments & custom details for my pages and photographs to make them even more applicable and personal to my work so I founded a company to do just that all while keeping my basic ideas and techniques in place for my classes.
Even though I was extremely busy managing and directing my company behind the scenes, I couldn’t step away from the hands on portion of the paper world ~ creating projects, so I presented my paper piecing concepts to the Editor of Scrapbooks, etc. magazine {a Better Homes & Garden publication} back in 2008 and Piece Talk soon became a monthly article dedicated to the ideas of paper piecing! It was a staple in the magazine for years, until the publication ceased. I was able to continue creating and teaching this concept worldwide as I traveled on behalf of my company and now, with my new online store, I can teach worldwide again & I am excited to reconnect with so many of you from so many countries and cities that I have met you in person!
So, today, I’m back to refresh the paper industry on an old go-to that is still so applicable today, but has also changed so much with the addition of cutting machines and die cuts ~ it’s going back in time yet fits right into the present day processes ~ even making it a bit easier to create! I’ll be providing a very basic pattern concept for you to work with, give you tips on how to create your own patterns and provide you with a printable file {for hand cutting ~ no die machine necessary} AND a SVG file to use if you do use a cutting machine! I hope you’ll love exploring your creativity with this FREE mini course.
If you find this sparks your creativity, join me in our Piece by Piece Classroom ~ an additional course where we will work on paper piecing pattern designs for each month of the year and beyond {in both printable and SVG formats}, create a variety of projects using our designs and get ideas and concepts gathered for how to create your own custom pieces for future projects!
Let’s get started!
I’m often asked how paper piecing became a big part of my documenting and teaching worldwide and my answer is originality. I LOVE that paper piecing- even if we all use the same pattern- offers a very unique and original design for YOUR pages. It takes more time and creative focus, but it’s always refreshing to have an original piece to match your exact project!
When I was first starting my journey into design and wanting to make a business of my creative work, I started with paper piecing. It was something I could add to pages that I could NOT find on the market at that time. Granted, nowadays, there are MANY more products on the market and they cover a much wider range of topics and themes, but I still love to create original embellishments for my pages and I think you will, too!
Paper piecing can be quite simple or it can be more complex it’s all dependent on what you want for your finished project and for your creative process. Sometimes you just need that special something that is just the right size and just the right color– paper piecing can get you that look!
Here is a look at this FREE pattern 4 different ways, including the card with a smaller scale pattern cut out!
For this mini course we will keep it focused on this one particular pattern, then, in my Advanced Course, Piece by Piece, you’ll receive 15+ design/project patterns and ideas, plus how to work on creating your own custom designs!
I’ll also share some of my original designs from many years ago -taking you back to where it started and how far it has come! Back then, they were all drawn by hand onto blank paper (very similar in concept to a sewing pattern), traced, then you would cut out each piece to trace onto your scrapbook papers. That part hasn’t changed much if you stick to the “original method”, however, I now create designs digitally to make them more clean and balanced. The digital files also allow you to have them in hand immediately and can be printed them out at home where you can adjust the size of the pattern to meet your needs (by changing the scaling percentage)! I also offer them in a SVG format if you have a machine to do the cut work for you and you can also adjust sizing as needed!
Let’s move into the Instruction Booklet that will be our main guide for this mini course!
