Let’s Quilt the Diamond Dresden Plate Quilt Block

It’s time to quilt our 10th block for the Machine Quilting Block Party! Let’s build more skills for free motion quilting and ruler foot quilting as we quilt straight lines, Sharp Stippling, and free motion feathers together. Check out this new quilting tutorial to learn how to quilt it:

Click here to find the pattern for the Diamond Dresden Plate Quilt Block. This pattern includes a full-size template to create this 12 petal Dresden, as well as a 14 inch quilting diagram for you to mark the quilting design on top.

Marking the quilting designs makes quilting much faster and easier because you don’t have to guess where to stitch next. When free motion quilting you have a lot of things to do: move the quilt smoothly, control the speed of your machine, and try to balance that speed and movement to make pretty quilting stitches. Thinking about the design can be just too much icing on the cake!

By marking the quilting design, you can focus all your attention on moving the quilt block under your needle and controlling the speed of your machine to create consistent stitches.

But if marking the design seems like a trip to Dullsville, keep in mind half of this block is quilted with rulers!

Ruler quilting is not marked, but instead guided. Using a special ruler foot with a high base, you can press a ruler or template against the foot as you guide the quilt through the machine. For this block I used Template #3 from the Dresden Plate Template set to quilt the straight lines in the petals.

This is also the same template I used to cut out my petal shapes! Yes, these templates can be used to cut Dresden Plates AND quilt them! Click Here to learn more about this template set.

I love this combination of curves and straight-line quilting that’s perfectly accented the pointed Dresden Plate Petals. This block was surprisingly fast to quilt because I quilted it entirely with a ruler foot on my machine.

Remember ruler foot quilting is a type of free motion quilting. 

You can use this foot to quilt with rulers, then set the ruler aside and move the quilt to stitch all your favorite free motion quilting designs.

So a ruler foot can be used to quilt with rulers and to free motion quilt, but a normal darning foot can ONLY be used for free motion quilting. Does that make sense?

What do you think of this combination of designs? Have you enjoyed quilting feathers in each block? What are some more designs you like to master in the coming year? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day