Foundation Paper Piecing Series 3 - December

Published November 2025

Join Jen as she shares how to make the Foundation Paper Piecing 3 design for December! Featuring candy canes and a cheery green wreath, the December project plays with charming prints in shades of Christmas red and green. Perfect for brightening up a cozy space, this seasonal piece looks stunning on the 8" French Curl Craft Holder, available below.

Our convenient kits include all fabrics needed to make the project including backing and binding as well as a full-color pattern, printed foundation papers & stickers to label your fabric! Explore the first Foundation Paper Piecing Series & see the links below for everything you need!

December’s Foundation Paper Piecing project gathers the season’s icons — candy canes, a tree, and a wreath — with pre-fused laser-cut berries added on top. It also answers the question that trips up more beginners than any other: once you’ve sewn a piece, how do you know which one comes next?

In this video, you'll learn:

• How to tell which shape is next, using the folds themselves as your guide.
• Why folding as you go beats folding everything up front.
• What both edges of the Add-A-Quarter Plus are for, and when to reach for the longer one.
• Why checking fabric coverage on a light pad isn’t optional.
• How to release the backing from pre-fused laser-cut applique shapes.

Check the links for everything you need.

Introduction

Foundation paper piecing isn’t intuitive, but it is very learnable — and the difference is almost always someone showing you the rhythm rather than you deducing it. This walkthrough is a refresher; the first video of each series takes a much slower, deeper pass for anyone starting from scratch.

Two shapes here show the range of the technique. The candy cane is built from five separate sections (A through E) that get pieced individually and joined later. The wreath, by contrast, is achieved entirely on a single sheet of foundation paper with no sections to join at all. The process is identical either way — only the assembly differs.

Before anything else: press your fabric flat, put a fresh blade in your rotary cutter, and cut and sticker one piece at a time. With five sections to prepare, labeling as you cut is what keeps the pile intelligible.

Knowing Which Piece Comes Next

Pieces are numbered, and you work in order — F1, then F2, then F3. That much is straightforward. Where people get lost is on a busy sheet where several shapes touch, and it isn’t obvious which one is genuinely next.

The folds answer it. You can only add the next piece along a line you’ve folded back, so:

1. F1 is glued in place.
2. F2 is sewn and pressed, so it’s covered.
3. The line between F2 and F3 is therefore the next one to fold — and F3 is the next piece.

If a line hasn’t been folded back, you can’t work on it yet. That’s the whole logic, and it means the paper is always telling you where to go next.

Which is also the argument for folding as you go rather than creasing every line at the start. There’s nothing wrong with folding them all up front, but when everything is already creased, nothing distinguishes the line you need now from the eleven you don’t. Folding one at a time keeps your place for you.

The Trim-Sew-Press Cycle

Glue the very first piece of each section down with a dab from a glue stick or glue pen — never liquid glue, since every scrap of this paper comes off later. Then the cycle begins, and it simply repeats.

1. Fold. Lay the Add-A-Quarter Plus with its tapered edge just to the left of the printed line, then fold the paper confidently back over it. Check that the crease landed on the line, press it again, and check once more.
2. Trim. Turn the tool around to the edge with the lip — the “plus” in the name is that lip — and slide it up and down until you feel it lock against the fold. Cut along it.
3. Sew. Place the next piece right sides together, pin, and sew: start slightly before the line, stitch directly on it, and stop just after. Where a line runs right off the edge of the paper, you can start off the fabric entirely and sew straight on.
4. Press the new piece open to the outside.

A size 70 Microtex sharp needle and a shortened stitch length of about 1.5 suit this work — the short stitch adds strength and perforates the paper for easier removal later.

The Add-A-Quarter comes in two lengths, and both get used: the short one for small shapes, the longer one when a run approaches the tool’s reach. If you’re buying, the two-pack is the sensible choice for anyone doing much of this.

Tear the paper if you need to. Because you started stitching slightly before the line, the paper sometimes won’t fold back crisply against your own stitching. Tear it a little. A clean, sharp fold matters; the paper doesn’t — it’s being removed and discarded regardless.

Confirming Your Coverage

Every piece has to cover its shape plus a quarter inch on all sides. That’s why the cut pieces look far larger than the shapes they fill — they genuinely need to be.

The trouble is that you’re placing fabric on the reverse of the paper, guessing at where it will land once flipped. Sometimes the answer is obvious. Often it isn’t, particularly on angled shapes where several positions look plausible.

1. Place the piece right sides together where you think it belongs.
2. Simulate the flip — fold it over as it will sit once sewn.
3. Hold it on a light pad and look through. You’ll see immediately whether the shape is covered with a quarter inch to spare.
4. Adjust and re-check if it falls short, then flip back, pin, and sew.

Don’t guess — confirm. Placement that feels certain is exactly the placement that turns out to be wrong, and the cost is unpicking a short stitch length out of paper and fabric. Check every piece before you sew it. A light pad makes this quick, but holding the work up to a window or a patio door does the same job.

Pin at least once, and more on longer pieces — the longer the run, the more chances it has to shift.

Trimming Up and Adding the Berries

Once every shape is sewn, trim on the outermost printed line — the lighter-colored one — as precisely as you can. That accuracy is what lets the pieces click together afterward.

The laser-cut berries come pre-fused, which makes them quick to place:

1. Give each shape a firm crease to release the backing paper from the fusible webbing on the back.
2. Lay them where you’d like them — there’s no fixed placement, so arrange them to taste.
3. Press to fuse. A medium heat is right for fusible webbing; on a small project like this a hotter iron won’t cause problems, but medium is the habit worth building for larger applique work.

Finishing the Project

As always with this technique, leave the papers in place far longer than feels natural.

1. Make all your blocks, then add the sashing and the borders — all with the papers still on. They stabilize the blocks and keep handing you an accurate quarter-inch seam allowance the whole way.
2. Only then start removing the papers, reaching into tight corners with a sharp pair of quilting tweezers.
3. Add fusible fleece or batting and your backing.
4. Quilt to accentuate the shapes rather than stitching in the ditch, letting the thread show. This is also the moment to machine applique around the berries.
5. Bind, and add a hanging sleeve if you plan to hang it — or skip the sleeve if it’s destined for an entryway table.

The candy cane needs five sections joined together and the wreath needs none at all, yet both are made the same way: fold, trim, sew, press, and check your coverage before every seam. Once that cycle becomes automatic, the projects that looked impossibly intricate turn out to be nothing more than the same four steps, repeated patiently.

Pick up an Add-A-Quarter Plus and any other rulers you need, add a light pad and sharp tweezers from Gypsy Quilter, and browse the rest of our notions to get started.

For personal use only, not for commercial production. No part of this pattern may be reproduced, shared, or distributed in any form unless given express written consent by Shabby Fabrics. Not to be used with any online classes or video tutorials other than the official Shabby Fabrics tutorial. All designs, photographs, and images are protected by federal copyright law. All rights reserved.