We're doing some English paper piecing...

... a little bit every evening, and it’s going to be a small blanket. Johanna showed interest in this kind of craft

Best regards, Inge

Now I have to ask a silly question: What is “lieseln”? I thought it was a knitting dolly, but this looks so different.

Veronika, try searching for “lieseln”—that’ll show you what it is and where it comes from. It’s a patchwork technique that’s sewn entirely by hand and takes a lot of work.

Best, Inge

Wow, that really looks like a lot of work and dedication.

Dear Inge, I think it’s great that your granddaughter is interested in this. Let’s see how long her enthusiasm lasts. Sewing so many little pieces by hand… that takes patience and precision.

You certainly have plenty of colorful fabric scraps. Is it all cotton? And do you arrange the hexagons into a pattern afterward? And is there a paper template inside each hexagon—like I read online? How long does it take to sew one hexagon? And how does it actually work? It would be great if you could satisfy my curiosity a little—the internet can’t do that half as well as you can.

Best regards, Ina

Yes, these are all cotton fabrics, and the fabric hexagons have paper templates inside them; they’re basted so that everything stays in place when the *covered hexagons* are sewn together. They’re then placed right sides together and sewn together with small stitches. You should make sure that when covering the paper templates with fabric, you align the fabric precisely with the corners of the hexagons and that the fabric sits well—it makes sewing them together much easier. If you like things colorful, you should still make sure the 7 hexagons harmonize with each other when creating the individual flowers; you can then assemble the finished ones in a more colorful mix for a blanket or whatever else you’d like to make from them. They’re meant to become a play mat for her dolls and stuffed animals—let’s see how big it ends up being. I have to take a little break from sewing myself because my thumb was really acting up and hurting last night. Johanna has prepared all the hexagons so that I only have to sew them together.

Best regards, Inge

Thank you so much, dear Inge, for your explanations. That sounds like a lot of detailed work. At first glance, you only see the creative side—all the things you can make with these hexagons. But it also has to be sewn and put together meticulously, otherwise it’ll look sloppy in the end. I hope you continue to enjoy this project, and I wish you all the best for your thumb.

Warm regards, Ina

This technique has been around for a very long time. Back then, though, you would still stitch through the paper. It was called “EPP” back then (English Paper Piecing). We call it “Lieseln” now because a quilter named Liesel Niesner wrote a book about it in which she worked the technique differently—namely, by basting around the template so that you can remove the paper without removing the basting threads. That saves a lot of work. But be careful—it’s addictive 😂
Kind regards, Marita 

Marita, you’re so right about the warning: *Warning! Addictive!* :-)))
I sewed a few hexies together again today and stopped before my arthritis started screaming “Enough!” There are 8 *flowers now; 6 are still sorted in the box, then more will have to be covered and basted again

Best, Inge

I’d love to come and learn by observing you sometime, dear Inge :-)

And thank you very much to you too, Marita, for your information. That’s so exciting. Maybe we’ll invent a new technique someday and write a book about it… and later people will say we’re “ingeling.”

Ina, you’re such a sweetheart :-)
I took a picture showing the different steps you need for English paper piecing to create a neat piece of handwork.
You need a template—here I’m working with ones that have a side length of 2 cm, but I’ve also worked with side lengths as short as 1 cm or as long as 4 cm and larger. It always depends on what I want to do with the hexagons.
 Then you take a piece of cotton fabric to “wrap” the template in. First, secure the fabric with clothespins—paper clips work great too—then baste the whole thing together. Once that’s done, you’ll need 7 hexagons of the same size to sew a flower. How you design it is up to your imagination and the fabric you chose earlier. Here, Johanna chose the fabrics, and I’m sewing them together now.

Best wishes, Inge

I see. But it’s very delicate, fine work. If you don’t fold the hexagons neatly around the paper and clip them in place, they’ll get slightly crooked when you baste them, and in the end, all those hexagons won’t fit together perfectly. But with you as her teacher, it’ll turn out just fine. Johanna has picked out a lovely creative project for her week-long vacation with you.

Does the paper stay inside the hexagons? Or is it removed at some point?
And what do the sewn-together edges look like? There’s no hem there, just two folded-over edges that meet. Do you lay them on top of each other, or is there a stitch that goes over both edges? I can’t quite picture that right now. I’ve never done any patchwork before, which is why I’m asking such silly questions.

Best wishes, and I hope you both continue to enjoy yourselves. I’d love to see a close-up of a basted hexagon and one of the sewn-together area. If you’d be so kind, thank you very much.

Ina

Here’s a flower I’ve sewn together, shown from the front and back—this is the best way to see how I sew them together. The first picture at the top shows all the flowers that will be sewn together to make a blanket for Johanna’s dolls; there are 28 flowers in total. Each flower has 7 hexagons, so all in all, that’s 196 hexagons being used. A blanket for an adult easily has 10 times that many hexagons—or even more.
It’s not just a matter of joining these hexagons into a blanket; you also have to add a backing and quilt it. There are different ways to go about this—either with a sewing machine or by hand, either along the seam lines or with a nice quilting pattern on the hexagons. The pattern shouldn’t get lost, though; it should really highlight the whole thing. Ina, as you can see, there’s quite a bit involved here, because there should also be a light layer of batting between the top (the front side) and the backing fabric.

Love, Inge

Hi Inge,
Your flowers are beautiful. Yes, I also have my share of problems with osteoarthritis. You really have to pace yourself.
I also think it’s great that you’re passing on your love of crafts to your friends.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you create together.
Best regards, Marita