Sew Seasonal - A Christmas blog hop. Day 2

Welcome to day 2 of the Sew Seasonal blog hop! 

So last week I gave you a little sneak peek of what I would be sharing as part of the blog hop.

Any guesses??

Alyce of BlossomHeartQuilts and Kristy of Quietplay have designed 25 patterns as part of this blog hop and I was lucky enough to score the pattern for Mary and Joseph designed by Kristy.

This is a fabulous pattern and I had a lot of fun doing it. The fabrics that I used for Mary's outfit, and Joseph's beard and headware are all from Figgy Pudding by Moda - a Festive themed collection that was released in 2009.

Now, I am in no way a paper piecing expert, but here are a few tips for paper piecing that I find useful.

1. Keep your stitch length short - it makes removing the paper at the end so much easier.

2. If you have trouble visualising what you need to sew, you can always trace your pattern onto tracing paper or baking paper and use that to sew through. I did that for a while when I first started paper piecing. I know have enough confidence to sew using regular paper.

3. If in doubt, use a bigger piece of fabric. I hate unpicking, and most of my unpicking results from using a piece of fabric that is too small for the job. Use bigger pieces until you gain confidence.

4. Spray starch is your friend. 

5. When joining each piece of the pattern together, I find i get a better result if I keep the paper on the back. It keeps everything rigid and together and allows you to see where your seams should line up.

Now I made my little block into a Christmas card to that we will give to my son's teacher as part of her end of year Christmas thank you.

If you would like to try this pattern or any of the others featured in the Sew Seasonal blog hop, you can download them for FREE here and here

Don't forget to head over and visit Jane at WhereJaneCreates for today's other project!