I love Dresden plates, always have. Something about the symmetry appeals to me. I’d been planning to make one out of batiks since a shop hop two years ago. (Yes -two years! Actually, it might be three. . . .) At each shop on the hop, I purchased 3/8 yard of a batik or two or three. So I’ve a nice collection. When I got a chance to work on Anelie Belden’s new book Thoroughly Modern Dresden, I was excited and intrigued. Excited, ’cause, well, I wanted to make a Dresden. Intrigued because I’d seen her quilts. They’re gorgeous. Could I really do it? After reading her book and understanding her construction methods, I found I could!
Along with her projects, Anelie gives you tips on mixing and matching block sizes, Dresden blade styles, and settings. This suits me because I hardly ever do anything exactly like I see it. I loved the colors and the setting of her Blue and Yellow Sunshine project. They match my kitchen. But it was too big for the wall where I pictured it. I switched the quarter-block size from 12″ to 9″ and, just for fun, I changed the blades’ top style to pointed from three-sided. I used my batiks and added some other fabrics from my stash. Within a day I had it up on my design wall and then sewn!
My Dresden plate wall hanging
I love this blue and yellow wall hanging and might even make it into a clock. (See Lynn Koolish’s book Fast, Fun & Easy ® Creative Fabric Clocks: 6 Timely Techniques for Fabric and Paper. Another “can I really do this?” that I found I really could do.) However, I have a problem – I don’t always finish things right away. (Anybody else have any UFO’s out there? Yup, I thought so.) I drafted the outer border design and selected the fabrics, even cut some of the pieces. That was 6 months ago. I “got distracted” and started a queen-sized batik Ohio Star quilt for my husband. Now that I think about it, that’s complete except for the borders, too, and I’m onto something else. Am I seeing a pattern, here?
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6 Comments
Very pretty – great fabric choices!
Love, love, love your Dresden…they’re everywhere in blogland…I’ve been a bit addicted to them myself lately!
I like the desdens! been seeing a lot of them in blogland all of a sudden.
UfO’s ? do i have any? I’m the queen of starting something, and going on to the next thing… I get so many ideas, I start them, then go and make another idea… the one that grabs my attention the most gets it! I do have several i want to get back too…I’m trying to not start anymore for the summer…ha! we’ll see about that!
Has any one made a fabric clock. I am planning on making a Dresden into a clock but would appreciate any tips you can give. I have made fabric bowls and boxes and even the fortune cookie but wonder about doing a clock to hang on the wall-any special considerations I need to be aware of. Thanks for any help.
Hey Joyce
A dresden plate clock sounds like a GREAT idea. C&T author and editor Lynn Koolish wrote a whole book about fabric clocks called Fast, Fun & Easy Creative Fabric Clocks. Here’s the link http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1081
It should be relatively easy to make a Dresden Plate block into a clock. When you place the block on the background, make sure that you have points aiming straight up and down (12 o’clock and 6 o’clock), which will also give you to points to the right and left (3 o’clock and 9 o’clock). You can use batting or fast2fuse between the block and the backing. Quilt and bind. Get a clock movement from a craft store, cut a little hole in the center of the block for the clock stem, mount the clock movement (the instructions are on the packaging), and voila – you have a working clock!