Today's Quilter - UK (2020-03)

WhatwasyourintroductiontoEPP?

EPPwashowI startedpatchwork.My

firstquiltwaspiecedfromscrapsmy

motherhadleftoverfromdressmaking

• I lovedthelinkbetweenthehexagons
  andtangiblememories.Later,when
  I lookedat historicalexamples,it was
  thepapersandwhattheytoldmethat
  reallyinterestedme.

Is EPPa techniqueyouregularly

use?

Mostly,I employmixedmediawith

paperandpaperlamination,often

incorporatingtext.I alwaysbegin

withanideaorconcept,together

witha visualstartingpointora

process.Recently,I’vebeenworking

withtraditionaltechniques,using

contemporarymaterialsandprocesses.

Thiscanpresentchallengesand

adaptationsgenerallyhavetobemade.

HowdidyouconstructFaintHope?

The‘papers’aremadeofacetate.

Hand-writtenwordsweretracedonto

the‘papers’inthecentresection,and

textwasdigitallyprintedontothe

‘papers’inthepanelsat eitherside.

Muslinwasusedtowraptheacetate

hexagons,withtheseamsontop,so

thatthe‘papers’areexposed.The

hexagonswerethenoversewntogether

andblackknotswereaddedtokeepthe

‘papers’inposition.Tullewasplaced

ontoptosecureeverything.

Whydidyouchoosethematerials

andprocessesused?

Theideasdevelopedfrommyoriginal

concept,whichwasinspiredbythe

E

nglish paper piecing (EPP),

also known as piecing over

papers or mosaic patchwork,

is an accessible hand technique that

requires minimal materials and

equipment. These qualities mean

it’s very portable and can be worked

on anywhere – it can also be a great

icebreaker if you’re happy to whip out

your stitching in public!

The basic method is to wrap and

tack a fabric piece over a paper

template. The patches are then

joined with an overstitch, sewing

just through the folded edges of the

fabrics. To ensure accurate piecing,

the papers are removed only when all

adjoining patches have been sewn in

place. In some historic examples, the

papers remain in situ. Too precious

towaste,paperwasfrequently

repurposedandtemplatesareoften

fragmentsof letters,accounts,

newspapersandsoon.Aswellas

oeringanintriguingglimpseinto

thelifeandtimesof themaker,the

papersmayalsohelptodateand

documenta work.

Aseachpieceis cutout

individually,EPPis a greatway

touseupsmallpiecesof fabric.

Combininga rangeof colours,

printsanddierentinterlocking

shapes can give rise to wonderfully

intricate, sometimes kaleidoscopic,

designs. Visual eects can be further

enhanced by fussy cutting, though

selecting particular areas of a print

requires more fabric.

EPP gained favour in the

eighteenth century, when fabric was a

valuable commodity and using every

last scrap counted. The hexagon

shape is strongly associated with the

technique – and it was ubiquitous

in the patchwork revival in the

1970s – but many other tessellating

shapes are found too. In the 1700s,

squares, often halved or quartered

into triangles, were widely used (see

below). By the end of the eighteenth

and into the nineteenth century,

cottons became fashionable and

othermosaicmotifswerebecoming

popular.TheBillingsCoverlet(see

left)featuresa rangeof shapesand

alsoillustratesthevarietyof cotton

printsavailable.

Therotarycutterandquick-

piecingmachinetechniques

revolutionisedpatchwork,butEPP

hasrecentlyexperiencedsomething

of a renaissance.Undoubtedly,it is a

slowwayof working,butit canbea

meditativeprocessprovidinga much-

neededcalmspaceinourhecticlives.

CHRISTINE

CHESTER TELLS

US ABOUT HER

CONTEMPORARY

TWISTS ON EPP

Above, Faint Hope, 42in x 29in: This piece

makes a feature of what is usually thrown

away in EPP – the ‘papers’

Above left, This rare eighteenth century silk
mosaic patchwork chair-seat cover maker is one
of a set of six (dated 1730–1750; maker unknown).
The central star is surrounded by triangle motifs;
quarter-square triangle units were widely used
at the time. The reverse (directional) shows the
fascinating paper templates – recycled from
letters, newspapers and children’s handwriting
practice – still in place

Artist’s own images