Dresden Plate

A Dresden Plate quilt has long been on my quilting bucket list.  Last year, I saw one made by Cindy of Hyacinth Quilt Designs.  It stayed in my mind and as I thought about what to make from my stash of Fig Tree fabrics, the Dresden plate kept popping up in my mind.  I decided to give in to the inevitable, mulled over it some more, considering different options and settings, and eventually came up with a plan.

Like Cindy, I am using the Fat Cat ruler, a 30 degree wedge ruler.  (I couldn't find the ruler at any of my local stores or usual online quilting supply sources and ended up buying it on Amazon.com, from an Amazon Marketplace seller.  The service was excellent.)

The Fat Cat ruler results in a Dresden plate block with twelve wedges forming the circle.  Most traditional Dresdens are made with a narrower wedge.  For example, an 18 degree ruler means 20 wedges around the circle.  With the Fat Cat, the wedges are wider, which is good for showing off bigger prints.  Of course, it also means fewer seams to sew.

For my project, I cut strips from fat quarters, 4 1/2" wide, then used the ruler to cut the strips into pieces.  I got eight wedges from each strip.  I figured out that I could also cut eight from a layer cake square without much waste, so this could be a layer cake-friendly design (with the addition of yardage for the center circles, sashing, and background).

I'm planning on a 25 block quilt so need 300 wedges.  I've cut about 170 so far, and want to make a few blocks then assess the color balance before I cut more. 

More on assembly in my next post.