Sir Snips’ Daily Snippet: Shorten the Stitch. Spare the Tantrum

Sir Snips the raccoon demonstrates a short 1.5 to 1.8 millimeter stitch for foundation paper piecing.

Sir Snips’ Daily Snippet 🦝🪡

Shorten the stitch. Spare the tantrum.

For foundation paper piecing, shorten your machine’s straight stitch to about 1.5–1.8 mm before sewing through the paper and fabric. Those smaller stitches perforate the paper more thoroughly and help keep the seams secure when the paper is removed. Return to your usual stitch length when you go back to regular piecing.

The paper may leave, darling. The seam should not. 😉

Do you change your stitch length for paper piecing—or trust the default and hope for diplomacy?

#FoundationPaperPiecing #QuiltingTips #QuiltersOfInstagram

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Published November 3, 2026.