Sip Tea and EPP Party 2021

Happy New Year, my dear friends! I hope the year has started on a good note for you and you are looking forward to another year of slow hand sewing and creating to warm your heart.

With only just a couple days left before the start of the third season of our weekly Sip Tea and EEP party that we run on Instagram, I thought I would share with you a few small changes that we are implementing this year.

Unfortunately, my lovely co-host Lauren from @mollyandmama has decided to step down and focus more on her own projects this year. I would like to thank Lauren for all her hard work, time and experience that she kindly shared with us while co-hosting the Sip Tea and EPP party over the past two years. It's been a pleasure to share this adventure with Lauren and I wish her all the very best on her creative journey.

I am very excited to introduce to you our new co-host Irina from @nordiccrafter. If you have not met Irina yet, take a few moments and visit her website where you can read about Irina and see her incredible quilts. Irina joined our party pretty much from the very beginning and she has been a valuable contributor to our weekly themes over the years sharing her work, tips, advice and simply encouraging and supporting others. I am looking forward to this new adventure with Irina!

What is Sip Tea and EPP Party?

It is a very relaxed and friendly group of wonderful crafters from around the world who get together on Instagram each week over a cup of tea (or any other drink) to slowly work on our long forgotten EPP projects or to start new ones, or learn this craft from a scratch. Every month we explore a new theme discussing it with you as we go along. We might share some photos with you, videos with tips and tricks to help you learn more about English Paper Piecing. We invite everyone to join us and share their work, thoughts, ideas and tips and ask questions. It is a wonderful community of kind and generous people who are keen to share their knowledge and their love for English Paper Piecing.

Last year was very difficult and challenging in many ways for all of us. Things did not go according to plans, inspirations and motivations were hard to find, but we have made it through. This year Irina and I would like to bring the community spirit back to Sip Tea and EPP party. We would like to focus on the benefits of the slow hand sewing for the mental and physical well-being, and to learn English Paper Piecing through working on small projects with the help of sew alongs.

When and where?

We start on the 7th of January. We will be posting (getting together) every Thursday on Instagram. If you cannot join us on Thursdays, then post any time that suits you, but most importantly find a few minutes in your busy day to slow down, get comfortable and sew a little bit with your hands.

How to join?

Anyone is welcome to Sip Tea and EPP party! No matter if you are new to EPP or an expert, join us when you would like to do a little bit of hand sewing or need some inspiration and encouragement to finish a project or have a tip to share.

It would be great if your Instagram account is public. This way we would be able to see your work, like it and comment on it. What if you your account is not public? It's not a problem. You still can join us by liking posts, leaving comments, asking questions. You can always send Irina and I a direct message if you have a question or a suggestion.

Make sure to have the basic English Paper Piecing supplies ready (a thin needle, thread, some paper and fabric scraps) and a desire to learn EPP.

Post your photos under the #sipteaandepp hashtag, tag Irina @nordiccrafter and I @stitchingnotes.

Visit other posts under the hashtag, like them, leave comments or answer some questions if you can help.

Why is it important to tag us and use the hashtag?

Over the years we have noticed, that people use the #sipteaandepp hashtag for random posts unrelated to the party. To reduce the time we spend scrolling through all the posts, it would be easier if you tag us directly so we can see your posts and comment on them.

Sip Tea and EPP Party themes

Below is the list of the 12 themes we picked for this year. They will give you an idea what we will be talking about during the year and what we will be working on.

1. Welcome to Sip Tea and EEP

2. Basting Techniques and Sew Along

3. Joining EPP Shapes

4. Variety of EPP Shapes

5. Tools in Details

6. Fabrics

7. Embellishments

8. Quilting and Finishing EPP Projects

9. Books and Inspirations

10. Christmas Sew Along Pt. 1

11. Christmas Sew Along Pt. 2

12. A Year in Review

Each month will be roughly split into four sub-themes that I am going to cover in seperate posts as we go along.

What is new this year?

You might have noticed that we have two sew alongs planned for this year. We will talk about them in details once we start the party and move through the year.

In February we will have an "EPP Necessities" sew along. We thought that it would be great not to simply sew hexagons while learning English Paper Piecing, but rather learn though working on a small useful project that you would be able to keep or gift to someone once finished.

In October we will start part 1 of Christmas sew along. We have a few fun ideas for you to play with, but you have to wait for that.

We also would like to bring you an Expert's Advice this year on some of the topics that would help you explore the wonderful world of English Paper Piecing and give you an opportunity to learn from well known designers and teachers.

This party has been wonderful so far with many people joining us every week for some slow stitching that brings calm, joy and warms your heart. You can join us any time throughout the week when you get inspired or you find a few minutes to yourself. If you have any questions or need some help with starting your first ever EPP project, this place would be your starting point.

Please come and join us! Looking forward to seeing you all! Happy slow stitching! Larisa xox