Queenie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2005
- Messages
- 3,144
Welcome to my tutorial on paper piecing. I hope you all enjoy it and find it easy to use.
Step 1
Locate a good image. A good image needs to:
- Be big enough to print clearly
- Have clean, sharp and well defined lines.
- Not be grainy.
You can search online or scan a childs colouring book. Take time to edit the grainy grit out of images, particularly if they are scanned. It will make the final product cleaner and better looking. If it is a simple design (or if you are good at drawing), you could even draw the picture yourself.
Here is the picture I will be using http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/HeathenAngel/2peas/Poohbear.jpg
Step 2
Count the colours you will need and gather the appropriate cardstock from your stash. Remember that you can also use patterned paper, vellum and transparancies so think about what would work best. Obviously the closer the colour of your card to the original colour of the character, the more accurate it will look. To make Pooh Bear we need:
- Orange for his body
- Red for his shirt and inside his mouth.
- Pink for his tongue.
You may need to cut out the same pieces twice in the same colour if you want to make your image 3D. More on that later. If you have any really tiny pieces in your picture, considering colouring them in with a felt pen rather than printing them. I will be doing this with the inside of Poohs mouth and his tongue.
Also think about what colour you want the base to be, for Pooh it makes most sense to be orange as there is more of that colour than any other. For any human piecing, skin colour is likely to be best. If parts of your image are transparent (e.g. a ghost or an astronauts helmet), consider vellum or office transparencies - for these remember to reverse your image if needed.
Step 3
Using your computer, resize the image to the size you want to print it at. I want Pooh to be about 4 inches tall so I will need to make him smaller as he is currently almost 12. Remember to take the white space around the image into consideration when altering the size on the computer and also bear in mind that the smaller you make your paper piecing, the fiddlier it will be to cut out.
Step 4
Print the picture out onto every colour you need. DO NOT RESIZE INBETWEEN PRINTS. You need each colour to be at exactly the same scale for it to work.
Step 5
Cut out the base colour (in my case the orange.) For this colour only you are cutting out the entire shape. Take your time. When you are done, use a black pen to go around the edges of the shape to give a defined edge and get rid of any white or coloured core that is showing.
Step 6
Cut out the other colours. Remember that you only need to cut out the appropriate piece/s in these colours. In my example I only need to cut out Poohs shirt. When youre done, remember to edge you pieces with the black pen.
Step 7
Attach the pieces onto the base. If you want to add dimension, use foam dots, if you want the piece to be flat, as in my example, a glue stick has always been my best option. Be very careful when lining up the pieces using the original lines on the base. Remember to give delicate, thin parts extra support if they are being raised up on foam.
Pooh needs some extra dimension so I will print him again onto the orange card. This time I only need to cut out the parts I want, not the whole shape. When youve done, edge the new pieces with the black pen and stick them down with foam dots.
Step 8
Colour in any small, fiddly parts and use chalks to add shading if you want.
Step 9
The final stage, if you want, now is the time to add embellishments. This is entirely in your court and depends on what you have made. For a snowman you could use wool to make a scarf or a carrot brad for a nose. For Santa, some white fluffy fabric could be used to add texture to his suit. It is entirely up to you so get creative and think what you have that could be used to add something extra to your creation.
Step 1
Locate a good image. A good image needs to:
- Be big enough to print clearly
- Have clean, sharp and well defined lines.
- Not be grainy.
You can search online or scan a childs colouring book. Take time to edit the grainy grit out of images, particularly if they are scanned. It will make the final product cleaner and better looking. If it is a simple design (or if you are good at drawing), you could even draw the picture yourself.
Here is the picture I will be using http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/HeathenAngel/2peas/Poohbear.jpg
Step 2
Count the colours you will need and gather the appropriate cardstock from your stash. Remember that you can also use patterned paper, vellum and transparancies so think about what would work best. Obviously the closer the colour of your card to the original colour of the character, the more accurate it will look. To make Pooh Bear we need:
- Orange for his body
- Red for his shirt and inside his mouth.
- Pink for his tongue.
You may need to cut out the same pieces twice in the same colour if you want to make your image 3D. More on that later. If you have any really tiny pieces in your picture, considering colouring them in with a felt pen rather than printing them. I will be doing this with the inside of Poohs mouth and his tongue.
Also think about what colour you want the base to be, for Pooh it makes most sense to be orange as there is more of that colour than any other. For any human piecing, skin colour is likely to be best. If parts of your image are transparent (e.g. a ghost or an astronauts helmet), consider vellum or office transparencies - for these remember to reverse your image if needed.
Step 3
Using your computer, resize the image to the size you want to print it at. I want Pooh to be about 4 inches tall so I will need to make him smaller as he is currently almost 12. Remember to take the white space around the image into consideration when altering the size on the computer and also bear in mind that the smaller you make your paper piecing, the fiddlier it will be to cut out.
Step 4
Print the picture out onto every colour you need. DO NOT RESIZE INBETWEEN PRINTS. You need each colour to be at exactly the same scale for it to work.
Step 5
Cut out the base colour (in my case the orange.) For this colour only you are cutting out the entire shape. Take your time. When you are done, use a black pen to go around the edges of the shape to give a defined edge and get rid of any white or coloured core that is showing.
Step 6
Cut out the other colours. Remember that you only need to cut out the appropriate piece/s in these colours. In my example I only need to cut out Poohs shirt. When youre done, remember to edge you pieces with the black pen.
Step 7
Attach the pieces onto the base. If you want to add dimension, use foam dots, if you want the piece to be flat, as in my example, a glue stick has always been my best option. Be very careful when lining up the pieces using the original lines on the base. Remember to give delicate, thin parts extra support if they are being raised up on foam.
Pooh needs some extra dimension so I will print him again onto the orange card. This time I only need to cut out the parts I want, not the whole shape. When youve done, edge the new pieces with the black pen and stick them down with foam dots.
Step 8
Colour in any small, fiddly parts and use chalks to add shading if you want.
Step 9
The final stage, if you want, now is the time to add embellishments. This is entirely in your court and depends on what you have made. For a snowman you could use wool to make a scarf or a carrot brad for a nose. For Santa, some white fluffy fabric could be used to add texture to his suit. It is entirely up to you so get creative and think what you have that could be used to add something extra to your creation.
, no doubt about it, but in the case of Pooh, why not just use the cricut and save yourself a few steps? Now granted if you have a child obsessed with Sponge bob or something, you are going to have to do it the manual way until cricut comes out with a nick cart.
. I just wanted to add that because of how many people are on the ban. I love how informative and simple it was
