Dresden Plate - a few more notes

I'm in a training course all week on the complete PFAFF line of sergers and sewing/embroidery machines. While I've been playing with some of the machines for over a year, I didn't have a great overall view of the entire line. I can now say that I have a pretty good overall perspective of all things PFAFF. We've played on most of the machines over the last couple of days. Today is the last day. It's been amazing, but I'll be glad when it's completed. It's very time consuming and you know me - I don't have loads of extra time.

However, one other good thing happened in the training sessions. There are dealers at the training who don't speak English. Our instructor doesn't speak French. We have one of our sales people acting as a translator, but from time to time, he's on a phone call. Guess who gets to do the translation? It's a hoot since I'm not that familiar with the sewing terms in French, but I'm learning very quickly.

And how about explaining a particular technique to someone in French? Yep - did that. I'm surprised at how quickly my French has returned. I guess it's been sitting in the back of my brain, but back in full force. Je va parler le Francais tous les temps maintenant! Grammerly didn't like that sentence and my written French isn't great. All that spelling of those endings. I could never get that.

So let's get to our last day of discussion about the Dresden Plate block. Don't forget to go back to yesterday's blog if you've no idea what we're talking about.

The more you look, the more you see. The Dresden Plate block isn't one that we tend to think about, but when I start to look, there's loads of stuff out there. And there are other styles that lead to the Dresden Plate block or that have deviated from the Dresden Plate block. I'm not sure which came first. I must dig out my Quilt Block Encyclopedia and check some dates. That can be for tomorrow.

Today, I've got a couple of quilts to share with you. This first one was made by my Mom. She gave it to me so I could quilt it. Oops - I guess I had better get it done. The Dresden Plates are all different sizes - no idea why.  The number of blades per block is different as well. But it was made with scraps - likely of clothing that my grandmother made for the family.

Dresden Plate quilt made by my Mom

In case, you wonder where my obsessiveness came from, it was my Mom. I inherited this box of Dresden Plate blocks. They are sewn together in groups, but not appliqued to a background. There are a LOT of blocks in this box.

Dresden block made by my Mom

See that red/brown plaid?? I made myself a shirt when I was in high school. And that black/white print? My Mom had a blouse made with that. Oh yes - my Mom and her pioneer spirit - you can't waste anything! And it's stuck with me!! God help me!!!

Then we have this version of the Dresden Plate quilt. These are fan blocks, but they are essentially a quarter of the Dresden Plate block. This quilt top was made by Susan's mother. What I really like about this quilt is the border. That's a very cool way to get a fancy border that matches the blocks in the quilt. There is ONE row that had to be sewn on and the top is ready to be quilted.

Quilt top made with quarter Dresden Plate blocks

I found this quilt in my stash of quilts. I remember getting this from a friend who was trying to free her house of some quilts. It was given to her by someone. Honestly, I don't remember where it came from and of course, there's no label. That was bad of me to not add a label as to where I got it from. It's in very good condition. It looks like it was made from scraps as well and the background is flour sacks. I think. It's quite coarse.

A Dresden Plate quilt that I own

Here's a close up of the fabrics in the quilt and you can see that it's in excellent condition. It's almost like it was never used.

One of the blocks in the quilt

It's hand quilted. Hard to see in the picture below, but the background fabric is very coarse and not all blocks have the same coloring in the background.

The quilt is hand quilted

As you can see, one thing can lead to another. I dug out a quilt that I'm working on that uses the wedge which is essentially what the blades are in the Dresden Plate. It's just how you use them - or essentially how you finish off the edge.

This is a fan stack n whack quilt block. Do you see anything unique about it? I used the right and the wrong side of the fabric to mirror image on those blades. It'll be appliqued to a background fabric when I get around to finishing the quilt.

A fan (stack n whack) block

Here's the fabric that I used for the block. Only fabrics that have a pretty good image on the reverse are good for this technique. The fabric is not the best quality which may be why the die went through so well to the wrong side.

A vegetable fabric used for the stack n whack fan block

Oh - there's one more thing that I wanted to mention about one of the quilts from the previous day.

Well loved Dresden Plate quilt

Let's have a close look at one of the blocks. See what the maker did? The North/South/East/West blades that are yellow have a point on the ends of them while the remaining blades have a rounded edge. The center was not a solid fabric. It was made with four melon shaped pieces. Now that I look at this, I'd try to repair that yellow blade and cut this block from the quilt. There's enough borders (also made from wedges) to frame the block and get rid of the rest of the quilt. GASP --- I know, but's it a cutter quilt, not an heirloom UNLESS it has special meaning to the owner. I'm sorry, but I have forgotten the story of the quilt. If it means something, then it has to stay whole.

The edges of the Dresden blades have different finishes

Believe it or not, but there are lots of sources of information for the Dresden Plate quilt on the internet and loads of books. Here are three that come to mind.

Fancy to Frugal by Kay Connors and Karen Earlywine

This first book is about authentic quilt patterns, but notice the Dresden Plate block is done exactly the same way that the quilt above was made with the melons in the center and the different treatment of the outer edges.

This next book is from our Canadian quilter - Katja Marek. It's all about English Paper Piecing those Dresden Plate blocks. I see some interesting twists on the cover block.

Distinctive Dresdens by Katja Marek

This next book looks intriguing. I wonder if the library has any of them???? 

Thoroughly Modern Dresden by Anelie Beldon

I've just scratched the surface - there are tons of rulers and templates that one can use to make these blocks. I hope you enjoyed this journey with the Dresden Plate block.

Tomorrow is another day!

On that note, I'd better get myself organized as it's going to be a busy day and I have so much to do!!!

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!