A Tutorial: How to Sew a Dresden Plate

Happy Monday, friends!

I detoured from my Heading South quilt this weekend and finished up a couple Dresden plates I had been working on.

I ran across this minty Dresden plate quilt on Pinterest a while back. It was a little inspiration that pushed me to try something new. I did a bit of research on sewing Dresden plates, and after a few tries, I was able to narrow down a method that I think works best for me.

My biggest challenge was finding a Dresden plate template with a rounded edge and one that created a plate larger than twelve to fourteen inches. The one I found and purchased finishes a plate that’s approximately sixteen inches in diameter. I bought the set pictured above off Amazon, but I see it is also available on Etsy.

1. Cut twenty petals. For me, tracing the rounded edges with a fabric pencil and cutting the straight edges with a rotary cutter worked best. These petals are not very wide, and I have learned they are ideal if you are looking to use up some relatively small scraps.

2. Sew all twenty petals into ten sets of two.

3. Sew the pairs of petals into a plate consisting of twenty petals.

4. Cut a square of interfacing a bit larger than your Dresden plate.  Interfacing is a thin fabric that, once heated with an iron, is sticky on one side. It’s fusible and often used to add a layer of strength to fabric to help it keep shape. (Warning: do not accidentally put your iron right against the sticky side. I’ve never done this, but I hear it creates a bad sticky mess on your poor iron.)

Lay your interfacing flat on a table with the sticky side facing down.

Lay the Dresden plate on top of the interfacing also facing down.

Pin your Dresden plate to the interfacing and slowly stitch an eighth of an inch around the perimeter of the Dresden plate. (See picture below.)

5. Trim around the interfacing.

6. Gently pull the interfacing through the hole in the center of the Dresden. This will turn it all right side out. Carefully put your hand in the center if you need to push out any of the rounded edges. Some of them may get tucked or rolled in a bit.

7. Let’s move on to the little circle in the middle. Using the template (or a small bowl or cup), trace a circle onto your desired piece of fabric.

8. Cut the circle out.

Just like above with the plate, lay a small piece of interfacing face down (sticky side down) on a table. Lay the circle on top of the interfacing, also face down.

Stitch around the edge of the circle.

9. Cut a small hole in the interfacing and flip the circle right side out.

10. Take out your Dresden again.  Once you are positively sure all the rounded parts are pushed out, iron the Dresden plate. This will adhere it to the fusible interfacing. Folks, there is no turning back once you fuse these two with your iron. Really, you will not be able to pull them apart again. And DO NOT run your iron over that center hole.

Take your circle and ensure all the sides are neatly rounded and pushed out. Iron your circle also to adhere the fabric to the interfacing.

11. I machine appliqued the circle to the center of my Dresden.

Use your Dresden on a quilt block, a place mat, a baby blanket, a homemade napkin. Anything that strikes your fancy.

Rumor has it that one of these Dresdens is going to show up on a pillow cover in my Etsy Shop tomorrow.

These Dresdens were all made with scraps of vintage sheets I’ve collected over the last year. See this post for a few tips on sewing with vintage sheets.

I’ve also been impressed with the sheets I’ve ordered from A Little Shabby Shack on Etsy. If you are running low on good thrift store finds, you may want to check her shop out.

(Please note that affiliate links have been used in this post.)