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Free foundation piecing projects

Our foundation paper is semi transparent for easy fabric placement and tears easily for removal after sewing.  Even better you can get 15% off by joining our newsletter!

We are building up our own fantastic collection of free foundation pieced blocks and and quilting projects which use foundation paper.  We have also listed a great range of places where you can find other free foundation paper piecing patterns below.

If you are new to foundation piecing we have a free tutorial with a beginner's block here to help you before you start tackling more complex foundation pieced patterns.

Unicorn Harts

Unicorn Harts have several free foundation paper piecing (FPP) patterns in their shop, as well as paid ones. Many of them are cute animals. I recently made the penguin block and turned it into a cushion (shown above).

Patterntrace

Yes! We have our very own Rainbow Mountain tub pattern which is free with any purchase of our Foundation Paper, and only a small fee for the digital pattern on its own ;-)

Quiet Play 

Quiet Play are well known for their rainbow geometric foundation pieced patterns. But you can also find some brilliant free Star Wars patterns in their Payhip store too, these are next on my to make list!

Lillyella

The chances are if you use Instagram you've probably seen Lillyella's popular undercover maker mat, which is a brilliant free pattern. That project incorporates a paper pieced butterfly block. But on her blog you'll also find the butterfly charm blocks shown above, foundation pieced humming birds and other free foundation pieced patterns too. Pop over to https://lillyella.com/tutorials/ to browse and download them.

Wombat Quilts

It's easy to think that foundation piecing is only using for pictorial quilt blocks as there are so many of them out there. But it's also a great technique for making stunning, often complex, non pictorial quilt blocks that would be very tricky to make without foundation piecing. Wombat Quilts have a stunning selection of free FPP quilt blocks on their site. 

Very Kerry Berry

Quilting author Kerry Green, who wrote our introduction to foundation paper piecing, and tested our foundation paper for us in the design stages, has some foundation pieced patterns free on her blog. We especially love these mini house blocks which would look great on a mini quilt, a pouch or a pincushion.

Pitcher's Boutique

Pitcher's Boutique have a great selection of licensed paper pieced designers including Harry Potter, Star Wars and Disney patterns. They show in her shop as costing 1 cent, but use the code FREE2019 at the checkout to get the price down to zero.

Six White Horses

This lone star foundation pieced quilt block from Six White Horses is the ultimate scrap busting block. All those tiny off cuts you considered throwing a way would be ideal for this pattern. Browse their sidebar to find other FPP tutorials too.

Sewing Under Rainbow

There's lots of gorgeous foundation pieced quilt blocks available for free on the Sewing Under Rainbow blog. Although the author is Polish she has kindly provided English versions of all the patterns too. We especially loved the woodpecker shown above, but the mermaid block is pretty epic too.

Fandom in Stitches

Fandom in Stitches have hundreds of free foundation pieced patterns for TV, movie and video game characters including Disney characters, Harry Potter, Minecraft, Superheroes, Star Wars, X-Files, Dr Who and many, many more.  Browse them all at http://www.fandominstitches.com/

Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine

We love this set of free weather themed foundation pieced quilt block patterns from Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine. There are lots of other free foundation pieced patterns on their site too including this adorable sausage dog! 

Sewn by Leila

Leila Gardunia has a full year long scrappy triangle foundation pieced pattern available with 52 different blocks. That's enough to really help you get to grips with foundation piecing and to burn through your scraps. Download the full pattern here. 

Free foundation piecing projects

General tips and points to remember…

  • The terms jersey, knitted and stretchy fabric can get used interchangeably, not just here but generally as you look around online you’ll see these terms being used to refer to similar things.
  • This fabric can be made from a variety of fibres such as cotton, viscose, modal, polyester, wool and bamboo. Usually they will also have a percentage of a stretchy fibre such as elastane or spandex.
  • The thickness or weight of them can be described in grams per square meter but as this number is hard to put into context and isn’t always available more subjective terms can be used to describe them such as light weight, medium weight etc
  • They can also be referred to with special more technical names such as ponte roma, double knit, single knit, sweatshirting and loop back. I’ll cover the most common ones below in more detail
  • I've tried to keep things are relevant as possible for the home dressmaker. These is lots of other more detailed and technical information out there but I hope this summery helps you understand more about this great fabric and how to sew it into your handmade wardrobe.

How to work out the amount and type of stretch

They stretch in different ways by different amounts. Some fabrics have a two way stretch and will stretch between the selvedges. Some have a 4 way stretch and will stretch lengthwise as well as between the selvedges. Use a swimsuit as a way to remember - it’s a 4 way stretch as it must stretch the length of your body as well as the width of your body.

The percentage of stretch refers to how much the fabric physically stretches, NOT the percentage of stretchy fibre (spandex or elastase) that is in them. Sewing patterns will typically as for a minimum percentage of stretch the fabric must have.

Why is percentage stretch important?

Sewing patterns designed for this type of fabric are typically designed with negative ease. This means that the garment you make will be smaller than your actual body measurement so that it stretches and fits around you. That’s why it's really important to use the right amount of stretch, otherwise you won’t be able to get the garment on/off or move in it!

How to use your Stretch Percentage Measurer

If you’re using a pattern which is designed for jersey fabrics then it will probably tell you the stretch percentage that the fabric you use needs to have. This is different from the stretch content, which is how much elastane or lycra is in the fabric.

Step One

Hold a 10cm section of your fabric, stretch it as far as it will comfortably stretch, without over stretching

Step Two

Every centimetre over 10 will correspond to 10% of stretching. So if your test piece stretches to 14cm, then the fabric has 40% stretch.