Clamshells - to EPP or not to EPP?

There may be as many different ways to do clamshells as there are quilters.  I decided to try a few using my favourite Liberty blues while my Passacaglia is resting.

First, EPP

While Im happy to make my own templates for more basic shapes, I didn't feel that my compass skills were good enough.  I bought some 2 inch clamshells from Sew and Quilt .  Sewing them together was a bit awkward as you can't hold the pieces front to front in the usual way.  It went together OK but was a bit fiddly.  Here they are with the top row appliquéd to a strip of plain fabric.

Next I tried appliqué.  This involves securing the fabric round the top curve in some way.  You can sew it, gather it or glue it.  There is also a method where you iron the fabric around the template using kitchen foil.  I tried all four of these in my next piece.

You start by securing the first row to another piece of fabric.  Them you have to carefully line them up, row by row.  For me this was the main disadvantage.  With EPP, the pieces fit together naturally. But for appliqué, you have to keep measuring to keep everything lined up.  I was not entirely successful.  Here's the finished piece:

Is there a difference between them?  Well if there is, it is not a big enough difference for most non-quilty people to see. I think the EPP clams are a better shape, and are more regular, but the stitches are more visible.  They both took about the same amount of time.  

Here are some of the tutorials I looked at - they were all useful in their different ways:

Messy Jesse

Molly Flanders

Poppy Makes

These two pieces are going to be hand quilted and made into a pouch.  I'm sure I will soon forget which side is which.  Linking with Life Under Quilts for the Monday Star Count, and with Celtic Thistle Stitches New to Me.

Late to the Feast

Three things made me start this project:

• a kind Instagram friend sent me a pack of templates for the Passacaglia quilt
• I'd just finished another EPP project
• Clare who blogs and Instagrams as @selfsewn started one, so it would have been rude not to, right?

Is an interesting pattern because its based on pentagons which don't tesselate easily.   The pattern for the whole quilt, from Willyne Hammerstein's book Millefiore Quilts is a huge undertaking and would require a massive investment of time and fabric.  Although the original in the book is not fussy-cut, the pattern is ideal for fussy-cutting and that means lots of waste.  

I'm not contemplating the whole quilt.  At the moment I'm going slowly, enjoying the process, stitching in the garden with its not too windy. Clare @selfsewn and I are using the hashtag #alittlepassacaglia

 Here's a rather dark image of the finished Oakshott mini quilt from the previous post.  It seems that once I've finished as EPP project I have to start another.

Linking with Jessica at Life Under Quilts.