Paper-piecing - Cutting Fabric for Pieced Sections

You’ve got your paper-pierce ("PP") block chosen. You printed it out and are ready to go but no where does it tell you how many colors to cut or how big the pieces need to be. It simply gives you an order for putting the pieces together. So now what? Easy, just get out your ruler, a piece of paper to write down measurements and follow the steps below to avoid having fabric pieces which are too large and difficult to work with.

After you print the pattern, cut out the various sections leaving the ¼” seam line untouched. If there is no line outside of the pattern, ensure you leave a minimum of ¼” extra paper around each section.

Take one section and measure each space within the section by taking your ruler and measuring the line of the two longer sides and adding ½” to each end.

For example, this line measures 2 ¼” but if I cut that, then I will have no room for a seam allowance.

So, I move the ruler to start the measurement at ½” and then at the other end, I add another ½” making the total length of one side to cut 3 ¾”. Measure the second side the same way and come out with the same (it’s a square), 3 ¾”.

Therefore, my “A” fabric will be 3 ¾” square.

For the “B” fabric, I am using 2 different colors. One of the triangle sides measures 1 7/8”.

If I can avoid cutting in 1/8 increments, I do so I will round this number up to the nearest ¼”. Therefore, for the blue B fabric, I come up with 2”x3”, need 5 pieces.

For the red B fabric, I need 6 pieces at 3”x2 ½”

and for the C fabric, I need a 6”x6” square.

There you have it. Cutting is complete. Now move on to how to the tutorial on how to piece it!