Foundation Paper Piecing Series 3 - January

Published December 2025

Join Jen as she shares how to make the Foundation Paper Piecing 3 design for January! Featuring snowflakes and a cheery snowman, the January project plays with charming prints in shades of winter blue. 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!

In this video, you'll learn:

• A full review of the trim-sew-press rhythm, carried by the Add-A-Quarter-Plus ruler’s tapered edge and locking lip.
• Why the cut-and-sticker organizing system keeps a multi-section pattern like this one from ever getting confusing.
• How to fuse the snowman’s pre-cut applique pieces with Ultra Bond — and why you never sew around their edges.
• The one thing a light pad can’t do: serve as your ironing surface once your applique shapes are placed on it.
• Two simple ways to display the finished piece, from a French curl to a spot on an entryway table.

Introduction

This snowman-and-snowflakes project closes out Foundation Paper Piecing Series 3, and it’s built as a review — every technique in it has already come up earlier in the series, so this is a chance to see the whole process again, start to finish, on a fresh wintry design. A cheerful snowman sits at the center, flanked by a pair of pieced snowflakes, all set against a soft Fairy Frost background.

Cutting and the Sticker System

Like every foundation paper piecing pattern from Shabby Fabrics, this one is broken into lettered sections, each built up one small numbered piece at a time — and each kit’s printed foundation papers come with a matching set of stickers already included.

1. Cut each fabric piece to the size your pattern calls for, then apply its matching sticker right away — that sticker is what keeps a multi-section pattern like this one from turning into a guessing game halfway through.
2. Stickers are numbered in the order you’ll actually cut and piece, not straight through in one long sequence, so don’t be surprised when the numbering jumps between sections as you work.
3. A design with this many sections — the snowman’s body, hat, and scarf, plus each snowflake — is really just the same small process repeated section by section.

Trim, Sew, Press: A Full Review

The heart of foundation paper piecing is the same three-step rhythm every time — trim, sew, press, or “TSP” for short — carried by the Add-A-Quarter ruler set.

1. Glue your first piece into place in each section, back of the fabric against the back of the paper, with a quarter inch of margin covering the piece on every side.
2. Set the ruler’s tapered edge just to the left of your next sewing line, fold the paper over it for a crisp fold directly on the line, then rotate the ruler around to lock its lip against that fold before trimming away the excess paper and fabric.
3. Position your next piece right sides together, checking against a light source for full quarter-inch coverage, then sew directly on the line and press the seam open before moving to the next piece.
4. Keep your stitch length shortened to 1.5mm and sew with a fine 70/10 Microtex Sharp needle for any seam that goes through paper — the finer needle and denser stitching perforate the paper cleanly, which keeps everything stable once you start tearing it away.

Squaring Each Section

Once a section is fully pieced, squaring it up accurately is what lets it lock into place with its neighbors.

1. Trim each section on its outermost printed line, using a ruler with a dashed reference line lined up directly over that printed line for a confident, accurate cut.
2. A rotating cutting mat makes squaring multiple sides of a section far easier than picking the whole thing up and repositioning it by hand between cuts.

Fusible Applique with Ultra Bond

The snowman’s face and details are added as fusible applique, using pre-cut shapes and a light box to place them accurately — and this step works differently from the pieced sections around it.

1. Position each pre-cut applique shape on your background using the light box to confirm placement against the printed layout underneath.
2. Press to fuse each shape in place with Ultra Bond, then leave it there — unlike the pieced sections, these fusible shapes never get sewn around their edges.

Never iron directly on a light pad or any other light source. Lift your fused unit off the light box before pressing it. Ironing directly on top of a light source risks damaging both the light pad and your iron.

Joining Sections and Adding Borders

With every section pieced, squared, and appliqued, the sections come together on pre-drawn seam lines, and the foundation paper stays put through borders.

1. Stack sections right sides together and sew directly on the pre-drawn line, keeping your shortened stitch length and fine needle in place since you’re still sewing through paper.
2. Pin at the very beginning and very end of each seam only, never in the seam itself, and skip backstitching — the dense, shortened stitching already locks those seams in place.
3. Keep the foundation paper on through borders and sashing, and only begin tearing it away once every border is attached.

Quilting and Finishing

A few finishing choices bring the whole wintry scene together.

1. Layer with Cali Del Fusible Fleece or batting of your choice, then quilt with decorative top-stitching rather than stitching in the ditch — a showcase for a fun decorative thread rather than an invisible finish.
2. Trim the piece to size and bind to finish the edges.
3. For display, a French curl gives the piece a bit of dimension off the wall, or simply set it out on an entryway table for the season.

As a review episode, this snowman-and-snowflakes project is a good gauge of how far the trim-sew-press rhythm has become second nature — and a good reminder that the same handful of steps, repeated section by section, is really all foundation paper piecing ever asks of you.

Pick up your Foundation Paper Piecing Series 3 kit, the Add-A-Quarter ruler set, some Cali Del Fusible Fleece, and any other notions you need 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.