Time and Cost of Fabric

I have recently joined a couple of English Paper Piecing (EPP) groups on Facebook and what I have found is, so many people thing saving a little bit of fabric is worth so much of the cost of the material. I know that for me I am the happiest when I can cut a 2.5-inch strip of fabric and then make it into 2.5-inch squares. 

I have seen too many people show that how they cut their fabric is laying out and tracing each template, including seam allowance and they put each of them up again the next one and trace around each of them. I know that might say a little bit of fabric but now much time are you spending tracing the motifs and cutting out the motifs versus maybe waiting a little bit of fabric.

When I do English Paper Piecing, I cut 2.5-inch stripes of fabric and then I cut each of them into 2.5-inch squares and that works for me. I am not going to waste the time to make sure that each side only have the 1/4 -inch seam allowance because then I need to ensure that I have placed the template in the exact right spot. For me I have my squares and I can quickly fold the fabric around the templates, and I am ready to do. 

For me I might have to buy a little bit more fabric to accommodate what I want to achieve but the cost of the fabric is a lot less than my time and that is what is important. If I wanted to spend hours tracing templates, sure I would do that but that isn’t what makes me happy. For me making sure that I can get the squares cut out and then start making the motifs is what makes me happy. I know that there are going to be some people that want to spend the hours cutting out each piece of fabric separately but that is me. If you tell that is how EPP must be done, I will tell you that isn’t how it works for me.

For me making my motifs using 2.5-inch squares is what makes me happy and I haven’t found an issue so far so why should I spend all the extra time making sure that I only have fabric a specific square. I thought EPP was something that was to be relaxing and fun to do, but making me ensure that every piece of fabric that I use is a specific size, doesn’t work for me and I have a major problem with that.

For me, EPP is about enjoying the time making my motifs and attaching them to a project that I want to make, so maybe for some people it won’t be perfect but perfect isn’t what I want. My entire EPP journey, is good is good enough, and that is what makes me the happiest.