Block Letter Blocks

Last week I showed you some letter blocks that I have been working on. My inspiration is this Proverbial Quilt. I contemplated buying the pattern, but then thought it would be more fun to wing it and try to make my own letter blocks! 

What I decided to do was make paper pieced blocks. Keep in mind I'm no expert on paper piecing! I've done it before but it was a really long time ago. I had to think a bit to remember how to do it.

These blocks are really simple, just rectangles mostly!

 Here's how I made them.

First, draw the letters on some copy paper. 

I did block letters, just like I drew all the time in middle school.

Fold on the lines to have guidelines to sew from the back.

 In regular paper piecing patterns, the design is printed on the back of the paper and looks opposite of the finished design. A mirror image I guess? Uh, I don't have enough brain power to figure out how to draw my letters backwards, so I just fold on the lines!

Next, add the first piece of fabric, right side up. Make sure there is 1/4" seam allowance around the center rectangle. I used a little glue to keep it in place.

Line up the next piece of fabric, right sides together, making sure that piece will fit over the design once it's sewn.

Here's the weird part! Turn the whole thing over and sew the first seam from the back, using the folded line as the guide. 

After sewing the seam, press the piece out.

Continue in the same way, adding the next piece right sides together, flip and sew from the back, then press out.

As you can see, my first piece of orange fabric wasn't large enough, so I added to it. No big deal.

Before moving on to the side pieces, fold back the paper on the vertical lines and trim the seam allowance to 1/4" on each side.

Add the vertical pieces in the same manner as before, fabric right sides together, sew from the back and press out. 

Now trim the edges to the size of the paper backing.

It's an 'O'!  Ooooooooo!

Eventually the paper backing is removed. I like leaving it on until I sew some blocks together because it helps keep the blocks in shape.

I know there are probably a lot of ways to do this kind of thing. I didn't want to cut out a bunch of individual pieces to make the letters. Doing it that way will save fabric, but since I'm using scraps, I don't care about that too much. Besides color, I haven't been planning out what fabrics are going into each letter. That's really been determined by the size of the scraps. If it fits the space, I use it! Unpredictable and fun!

I like paper piecing because all the blocks come out the same size. Nice and neat. 

Do you like paper piecing? Have you made any projects using this method?