AQC - Moncarapacho by Willyne Hammerstein

Following on from my previous post (on Willyne's Ballet with Kaffe Fassett quilt), I'd like to show you Willyne's Moncarapacho quilt which was also in the AQC exhibition in Melbourne. This quilt is on the cover of Millefiori Quilts 3.

Those with eager eyes will see that this quilt has the same starting rosette as Ballet with Kaffe Fassett.  However, there are many, many 10 pointed stars in this quilt.  People who have started Ballet with Kaffe know that 10 pointed stars are quite difficult to get perfect.

Like all of Willyne's quilts, this one is hand pieced and hand quilted.

Some of my readers have asked about the advantages of hand piecing over English Paper Piecing (EPP).  Willyne spoke about the extra time and expense involved in English Paper Piecing. Her points were:

1.  With hand piecing you just draw the sewing line on the back of the fabric, and then you stitch two pieces together with a simple running stitch.  This method uses less thread than what many people using for English Paper Piecing.

2.  English Paper Piecing requires paper pieces which most people prefer to purchase (for accuracy).  Even if you make your own paper pieces, it's time and money.

3. Paper pieces have to be basted - either by thread or glue.  That's more expense and more time spent basting.

So, although English Paper Piecing has some disadvantages compared to hand piecing, many people are more comfortable hand sewing with EPP.  I don't regret making my la passacaglia with EPP.  I wasn't confident to do hand piecing, so I went with the method I was familiar with.

People in The Netherlands start hand piecing from a young age and that's the only method they know for hand sewing.  Whereas we often start with sewing a few English Paper Pieced  hexagons together, and so we start down a different track.

I'm slowly transitioning to hand piecing now, but that's only after taking a lesson with Jen Kingwell and seeing her method of hand piecing and finished quilts.

Although I attended the Ballet with Kaffe Fassett class with Willyne and studied her hand piecing method too, I will still finish my Ballet with Kaffe Fassett quilt with English Paper Piecing because that's the way that I started it.