Beth, it might help you to watch the newly posted video that I did showing how to paper piece using the Add A Quarter ruler:

[url]daily-blog/106-website-features/16340-bom-2013-paper-piecing-with-the-add-a-quarter-ruler-and-margo-clabo[/url]

I have turned in 2 more videos showing different techniques for paper piecing, including Annis's great suggestion about adding a line to position the fabric, but I'm not sure when they will be posted to the website. Watch for them in the newsletter and/or Daily Blog.

Hope it helps.

Beth,
I've been paper piecing for a long time and still I end up putting some of the triangles the wrong way. Keep at it, you'll get better.

If you first lay the new piece exactly where it needs to go and right side showing, then fold it over unto the previous piece, it will cut down on the amount of ouchies.

Erica

I've done most of those things at least once. If you don't paper piece often, the solution might be to make a practice block first. As for placing the triangles the wrong way, I place them in the finished position first, then flip to the sewing position. For trimming the finished block I place the 1/4" line of the ruler on the stitching line, ignoring the cutting line. After doing a lot of them you will get in the habit of doing it everytime and will save your seam allowance. Sometimes after positioning the fabric I pin it in the seam allowance, then fold on the sewing line to make sure it will cover the area. And mostly I sew with the fabric on top so I can see what I'm doing all of the time, and I only have to trim the seam allowance after it is sewn, not before. You need extra lines on the paper to do it that way. I don't think Margo will be doing a tutorial on this but if you've ever sewn half-square triangles together without marking and using a line extending from the needle to guide the fabric, it is similar to the way I paper piece. Not all blocks will work this way.

Am I so different from others?

Every time I start a project with paper-piecing, I go thru this. I start sewing the first piece right side facing the paper.

I forget to trim the seam allowance after I've sewn it and before I sew the next one on.

I sew a piece with the right side up instead of the wrong side.

With triangles, I sew them with the pointy sides together, instead of the opposite way. (But they fit so much better that way!)

When a piece ends up being too short, I rip it out, sew it again, and it comes out exactly the same way.

My first inclination is to trim the finished product on the stitching line instead of the cutting line.

But I know that I will never achieve the perfection of those points without paper-piecing them, so yet I persist.

Onward and upward!

BethMI