Drafting a Dresden Plate Block

4/6/2019

I saw an interesting quilt on the Quilt Index that showed Dresden quilt blocks on a quilt. There was a lot of white space for adding your own quilting and I loved the layout.

The photo was not great -- but it showed enough to allow me to redraft the main block in Electric Quilt using a much more modern fabric collection.

Do you get stuck on how to start drafting a Dresden Plate quilt like this?

Check out my video tutorial where I identify the main block, share with you how to crop the block and then trace it using EasyDraw.

(Maker not recorded). 1901-1929. From Minnesota Quilters Inc., Minnesota Quilt Project (MQP). Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=49-7E-9E7. Accessed: 04/5/2019

Fabric in the Video
In the video tutorial I used the Uppercase Volume 2 fabric collection from Windham fabric. I downloaded images from the Windham website, resized and cropped them in EQ. It is a fun collection.

For those that have completed the Tech Know Quilter's Working with Fabric Images class, this would be a great exercise as a refresher to Lesson 7.

Dresden Block

Here is the block from the video. If you would like, feel free to download and trace my block.

Dresden Block drawn by Kari Schell using EQ8

Dresden Quilt Center
There is more work to be done. But here is the quilt with the main block added and rotated along with some tweaking on coloration.

Dresden Quilt center created by Kari Schell using EQ8.

Next week we will work through the slightly tricky borders for this quilt.

New Book - EQ8 Drawing Blocks - Scheduled for Release

Big news. I am excited to announce that my book on drawing blocks is at the printer. II talked to Electric Quilt earlier this week and they plan to be mailing me my first shipment of books later next week.

The book covers EasyDraw, PolyDraw and Applique worktables in Electric Quilt 8 and is a great opportunity to master drafting your own blocks.

If you have taken the Tech Know Quilters Introduction to EasyDraw, Introduction to PolyDraw or Introduction to Applique classes (and a smaller part of the Foundation Patterns class), you will find there is an overlap in the material.

If you would like to pre-order a signed copy of the book, please select the purchase link below.

I only ship to US locations.

Purchase EQ8 Drawing Blocks by Kari Schell

Feathered Star Variations

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a tutorial on drafting your own feathered star blocks (the easy way). There were a number of Electric Quilt users that rose to the challenge and drafted their own feathered star blocks and quilts.

I was super impressed with their creativity. Here are a few of their designs.

Mariner's Shooting Star by Janet I.

Peg S. Feathered Star -- Don't you love how she incorporated a twisted block in the star and in the other blocks of the quilt as well?

Julie H. Feather Star

Did you missing the original post and video? You can find it here.

I would love to see your Feathered Star.

Happy quilting.

Kari

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