Paperless Paper Piecing + Celestial Star QAL

Here is a picture of the conversions for the outer piece. Whether you're making the center, right of center or left of center, the conversions are the same.


Prepare the Turning Template:

We will need to make a template from freezer paper to help us turn the edges of our fabric pieces. If you've used freezer paper for appliqué, or other sewing uses before, this will probably be pretty self explanatory. We will be making the template out of two layers of freezer paper, for durability and reuse-ability.

1. Cut two strips of freezer paper.
2. Press them together with the shiny sides DOWN. 
3. Trim one edge to get a nice straight edge.
4. Draw a dashed line (or any other doodle you'd like) to remind you that it's the straight edge. Or cute both edges straight, giving you a double edged template.

The Paperless Paper Piecing Technique:
Layering and Glue Basting:

Now the fun begins!!!

Turn your iron on (cotton setting is perfect) and keep it dry (no steam, please). Have your spray starch, stencil brush and Washable Elmer's School Glue + MicroFine Tip
 at the ready.



Spray some starch into a small bowl or in the lid of the starch bottle, like I did here. It will foam up. After the foam settles, it will be liquidy.


Next we'll be turning the edges of our fabric pieces, according to the conversions we made on the templates.

Starting with piece #1, have your freezer paper turning template, starch and stencil brush nearby.


 Dip your brush into the starch.


Paint starch onto the edge of the fabric, from one end to the other. Be careful not to paint too much onto the freezer paper template, as we don't want soggy paper.


Next, pull the edge of the fabric over the edge of the freezer paper, and press with your hot, dry iron. This will make a nice, crisp crease. This crease will end up being your seam line. Then peel the template off, while it's still a tad warm. So cool!!

Repeat for each piece with a turned edge.


Here you can see all of the turned edges, nicely pressed. Remember, wrong side up! In these pictures, you can see how the turned edges of pieces 1, 2 & 3 match what we wrote on the template. Piece #4 doesn't get turned because it's last and will lay on top of all the pieces.


Now, let's get to the layering!

Lay piece #1 in it's place on your layout template, and anchor with a couple of straight pins. When laying it in place, the edge of the crease should be right on top of corresponding black line. The black line can peek out a tiny bit. If it's completely covered, or not covered at all, the actual seam will be inaccurate.  The outside edges of each piece should overlap the seam allowance edge, just like with paper piecing. (Here, I'm layering them on another template to show you how the layering is done, without covering up the converted template. Usually, I layer right on top of the conversions.)


 Draw a line of glue near the edge of the crease, where you'll be layering piece #2. This is the beginning of our use of glue basting. Glue basting is an amazing tool that helps us hold our pieces of fabric together, temporarily, while enabling us to achieve more accurate piecing. When you wash the final quilt, the glue will wash away. I have several blog posts and videos can teach you more about glue basting.


Heat set in place.


Draw a line of glue for piece #3.


Place piece #3 in place and heat-set.


Draw a line of glue on the edges of pieces 2 & 3.


Lay  piece #4 in place and heat set. The last piece is always my favorite!


Here's what it looks like after all the pieces are layered and glue basted.


Take the pins out and turn the unit over for the big reveal. Doesn't it look lovely?! Now it's ready to sew.


Speedy Shortcuts:

1. Use mulitple layout templates, and assemble your units in an assembly line.
2. Turn all edges before layering.
3. Use a longer turning template and turn two pieces as the same time.

 Let's take a look at the assembly for one of the outer units:

Piece #1 is already on the template, as it's done the same way as piece #1 of the inner unit. I turned pieces #2 & #3 at the same time, on a longer turning template. This makes turning edges much quicker. Then I placed them on the layout template.


After turning piece #4, draw a small spot of glue on the edge of piece #2, where it will overlap. Then lay it in place and heat-set. Feel free to use an additional pin as an anchor.


Draw a spot of glue on the edge of pieces #3 & #4, where piece #5 will overlap.


Lay piece #5 in place and heat-set.


Draw glue on the edges of pieces #2 & #3, where piece #6 will overlap. Lay piece #6 in place and heat-set.


And last, but not least, draw a line of glue on the edges of pieces #4 & #5, where piece #7 will over lap. Place piece #7 in place and heat-set.


Release the unit from the layout template, and take a peek at how lovely and precise it is.


Sewing and Trimming the Units:

Open the crease for sewing line #1 on the inner unit. See that nice crease there? That's your sewing line, where you will be creating your seam. For each seam, you will sew right on the crease.


Beginning with your needle down, at the top of the seam, begin sewing directly on the crease. If you sew to the right of the crease, it will be too big. If you sew to the left, it will be too small.


See this little bump? That's where the seams of the other pieces are. When you get to this point, be sure to stay on the crease line, and be sure not to sew on top of the bump. Doing that will create a pucker. I've done this many many times. It's an easy fix. Just unpick that section of the seam and resew it. Having everything glue basted keeps your pieces in place when you need to fix little mistakes like a pucker.



 Here are two inner units, sewn and trimmed.


And two outer units, sewn and trimmed.


Trimming the Units:

Trimming the units, to prepare them for the final assembly, is unique, easy and accurate.

First, print one copy of each piecing/layout template onto freezer paper. Remember, print onto the paper side. Here you can see the shiny side vs. the paper side. I highly recommend printing with an inkjet printer. If you print with a laser printer, the ink will smear when you press it with your iron.


Rough cut one of each inner, and outer templates. Lay each template, shiny side down onto a piece of blank freezer paper. Again, we'll be making a template with 2 layers of freezer paper. Press the templates in place. Be sure there are little to no bubbles.


Trim each template, cutting off the seam allowance. When you trim, cut right down the center of the black line. If you cut to the right, the template will be too big. If you cut to the right, it will be too small. This is a good rule of thumb for cutting any template for any type of use in quiting.


Trimming templates, all trimmed and ready to go!


Line up the black lines/seam lines of the trimming template with the actual seams of the unit. Press the template in place with your hot, dry iron.


Line up the edge of the trimming template with the 1/4" mark on your ruler. Trim with your rotary cutter. Repeat for each edge, and for each unit.


Next, mark at dot at the tip of the template. This indicates the stopping/starting point for sewing two, or more, full units together.

After trimming and marking the point, simply peel the trimming template off of the unit. Easy peasy! And the template is reusable!


Troubleshooting: If your seam lines don't match the template perfectly, get it as close as you can. Hold the template with your hand, and give the sewn unit a gentle tug to guide it into place. When you've got it as close as you can, press it in place. I think the most important line to match up is the one that intersects the other pieces.


Repeat for each inner and outer unit.



Joining the Inner & Outer Units:
Now, you're inner and outer units are ready to be joined. This is one of the easiest parts of the technique.


Draw a line of glue across the edge of the outer unit, clost to the edge (about 1/8" from the edge).


Center and line up the edges of the inner and outer unit. Heat-set in place.


Sew together.


Repeat for all units. (Yep, you can see where I messed up a seam, and had to restitch. Thankfully, I only made the seam to short. Making it wider was easy, and I didn't have to unpick anything.)


After sewing, press the seam toward piece #1 of the inner unit. Repeat to join each inner/outer unit according to your design plan.


Finally, you're ready to join full units to one another.

Draw a line of glue along the edge of one fully assembled unit. Again, about 1/8" away from the edge. Avoid putting glue past the point of that dot we drew at the tips, earlier. Remember, we aren't actually sewing through the glue. It's just holding our pieces together in order to help us achieve more accurate piecing. And when you wash the final quilt, the glue will wash away.


Match up the seams of your units, and heat set.


Sew your units together, starting at the dot we marked at the tip of the unit. Start with your needle down, right on the dot. Stitch 2-3 stitches then backstitch. This will secure the end, which will eventually become the center of the block, where all the seams intersect.


The backstitch.


This is what it will look like at the tip, after being sewn.


After sewing, press your seam to the side. I always recommend pressing to the side, especially when a seam is the strength of the block and quilt, as with these units of the Celestial Star. When you press your seams open, the strength of the block is only as strong as the thread holding it together. A seam that 's pressed open runs a high risk of popping once it's quilted or with washing, use and over time. A seam that's pressed to the side is easier to quilt, especially if you choose to "stitch in the ditch", and it's much stronger as it relies on the fabric AND the thread for its strength. (Miters and binding strips are two places where I do press my seams open. Otherwise, pressing to the side is my preference.)


Continue piecing the units together, according to Diane's instructions. At each tip of a unit, be sure to stop and backstitch at that dot we drew. Then, press to the side, in the same direction, each time.


This is the center, after joining all units, pressing to the side, and spinning the center.