I agree - I am making it up as I go along - using my scraps, some serious maths to help with the cutting - trying to see if there is enough of an individual fabric. For one of the sides of the triangle, all I have left over was a 2 inch x 1 inch piece of fabric, so cutting it a bit fine - literally! Will be looking in the sale fabric at my LQS next week.

I have enough fabric in my stash to make this! Found 5 yards for a background and several yards more that will be a close match. I plan on following the Buttons and Blooms directions. If I find that I need a yard or half yard to accomplish what I want it will not break the budget. Besides for me it's all about being creative and hopfully it will look nice when done.

I want to say thank you for the description on how to decrease the size of the templates. I will play around with this method and see how it comes out. Thank you for sharing your process!

Kathy

aubdi21 wrote:
It does take a lot of extra fabric for paper piecing and applique. I tend to purchase more rather than less fabric when making quilts. There is a way to save fabric when paper piecing. I usually make templates on freezer paper or full sheet labels, place them on the fabric and add 3/8" or 1/2" seam allowance. You can cut several thicknesses at a time and only need one template for each shape. I won't be making this quilt as I have too many projects in the works right now, but I am downloading the instructions for future reference and I had a special request to make the templates half size. That would save a lot of fabric and stabilizer.

To decrease the size, open the PDF file in Photoshop Elements and decrease to 50% on the first screen by dividing the size by 2. Save as a jpeg. For multiple pages you have to open each one separately. Change the canvas size to 8 1/2 x 11. Then you can copy and paste to put them on 1 page if they will fit. You can fit 6 of template 4 on 1 page by rotating 2 of them 180 degrees. Keep in mind that the outer seam allowance will change to 1/8" so allow enough space between the templates. Flatten the image under layers when you are finished and save. Then save again as a PDF file. If you don't have Photoshop Elements or aren't able to figure it out I would be willing to share my templates. Just send me your email address.

There are several large areas of applique on this quilt. That is basically two layers of fabric. The yardage is accurate and not extreme - there will not be a whole lot left when you are done!

Kind regards,
Sarah

I have never done a paper pieced quilt but do understand that there is fabric waste but the total yardage for this quilt seems extreme. Can someone explain why?