It’s our tenth month of the Machine Quilting Block Party and time to make another Dresden Plate Quilt Block for our Flower Festival Quilt. This month’s Dresden block is super easy and fast to piece with twelve pointy petal shapes:
The wonderful thing about the pointy petal Dresden Plates is they are pieced to turn the edge. This makes them much faster to turn the points to create the finished applique shapes. Learn how to piece and applique your Dresden Plate Quilt Block in this new video:
Using the template set will make the piecing process even faster because you can cut multiple pieces very quickly and not have to worry about accidentally slicing into the paper pattern.
To secure your Dresden Plate to the block background, you can pin the flower shape in place or glue it down securely. I personally prefer to glue the shape down because it holds firm and ensures the block will stay in place while you stitch down the edges.
To glue the Dresden Plate, I use regular Elmer’s Glue in a Microtip Glue Bottle so I only apply a little bit of glue to the folded edge of the fabric. You need to control the amount of glue you add or it can quickly become a mess!
My favorite thing about this quilt block is the quick quilting design holding the layers together. We have a simple spiral in the center, big butterfly feathers in the petal leaves, and a touch of ruler foot quilting in the other petals.
Make sure to check back next week as we learn how to machine quilt this beautiful Diamond Dresden Plate quilt block together!
Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.
