Millefiori La Passacaglia quilt journey - phase 1 study and gather

Now that I'm committing to this EPP ((English paper piecing) project, I need to research the quilting community for best practices and tutorials. Pinterest and Instagram are great starting points. First lets see what Merriam-Webster definitions has to say:

Passacaglia (n.) – an old Italian or Spanish dance tune; an instrumental musical composition consisting of variations usually on a ground bass in moderately slow triple time; or an old dance performed to a Passacaglia.

Millefiori (n.)-  a kind of ornamental glass in which a number of glass rods of different sizes and colors are fused together and cut into sections that form various patterns, typically embedded in colorless transparent glass to make items such as paperweights.

I better come clean… I’ve never done EPP. It always looked a bit daunting to me.  In truth it still does so I’m not sure why I’m willing to tackle this now. My biggest concern is the stitches tend to show on the front seams, which I don’t like. Funny that we love our quilting stitches to show but not the seams…..in reality handwork is handwork. I love hand applique and have perfected my stitches over the many quilts I’ve done so I'm hoping I can transfer those skills to EPP…..or that it my strategy anyway.

There are several EPP methods, but the most common is shaping fabric (basted or temporary glue) around a paper template which is then sewn together with very tiny hand stitches. It's all hand work, perfect for going to bees.  Another method prints the template shapes directly onto your fabric using a home printer, then you cut it out and sew by hand or machine. I've not been very successful printing on fabrics with my Inkjet printer so I will do the wrap paper templates method. 

My research pointed me in the direction of a book by Willyne Hammerstein, called Millefiori Quilts for examples and instructions. She has a second one in print, but it seems the first lays the foundation and includes 19 different designs. 

There are five different shapes in the quilt I'm going to tackle, with 2900 pieces (I know, crazy!) if you do the bed size. I plan to start small and see how it goes, perhaps make a larger wall hanging. It helps to have the clear acrylic templates if you plan to fussy cut your fabric, which I do. All these things can be ordered from your local quilt shop or direct from PaperPieces.com  - the books, laser cut paper template packs, and acrylic template sets.

Yes, you are seeing right, the pieces are little, shown with a 3/8" seam allowance. I didn't expect them to be so small, so I thought the ruler reference would be helpful.

Next I began to audition fabrics from my stash. Since I have decent size stash I’m trying hard to use what I have first, but I may need a print or two to fill in. I'm always weak on pink and yellow but have loads of greens, and lots of reds, blues and purples. Some quilters are purist about their fabric choices and stay within a designers theme, or only use civil war or reproductions, or Asian prints. Not me, this is going to be Heinz 57 scrappy which is what I follow the majority of time. How the color reads is most important to me, including neutrals black and whites, plus large to small scale and print types such as geometrics, organic, stripes, dots, florals etc.  Here's what I pulled:

Next I focused on needles and threads.  Several sites recommend a size 11 milliner needle. They are long, thin and flexible which is helpful to work thru the layers. There are lots of opinions on thread.  Some use a smoke grey color (in polyester) for everything which never worked for me in my applique.  I prefer matching my thread as close to the fabric as possible. I love Aurifil 50/2 Mako cotton, but Mettler 60/2 cotton or even YLI silk will work too.

I also gathered up other notions such as Frog Tape, office binder clips, Frixion (iron away) marking pen, pencil, and Sew Line washable glue sticks with A LOT of refills since I plan to glue baste. Many of you will think this is crazy, but I wear a pair of 4x magnification reading glasses over my trifocals to see up close to make smaller stitches. That along with an Ott light makes all the difference for me.  Last, a square rotating cutting mat, small rotary cutter, and a couple pair of sharp scissors and I’m ready to start, along with a ‘rosette’ pattern planning guide.

Stay tuned for more progress……