Juxtaposition: A Modern Dresden Tutorial

Juxtaposition: A Modern Dresden

Designed and Quilted by Rebekah Taylor of The Little Red Thread

Finished Size: 34 x 34

I had the honor of designing another fun project from Betz White’s newest fabric line Juxtaposey for Riley Blake. The color in this line is LUSCIOUSLY saturated.  They range from bold red and gold to fuschia and navy. There is something for everyone’s palatte in these eccletic world-inspired designs.  And guys, there are llamas.

L-L-A-M-A-S

Nevermind that one of my favorite movies is the Emperor’s New Groove or the fact that I have several llama figurines.  I mean who knew llamas were such a popular, lovable animal? So when Betz asked if I wanted in on designing another project for her latest line there was no hesitation.

This pattern was designed using the Double Wide Dresden ruler by Me & My Sister Designs.  All fabric requirements are based around the use of this ruler.  The Double Wide ruler allows you to use only 10 fan blades to complete a circle verses a traditional Dresden ruler where you have 20 blades.  Because you are doubling the width of the fan blade these dresdens are not only made faster but are finished at both ends eliminating the need for a center circle.

SUPPLIES
Fabric:

¾ yd Posey Stripe Navy (tulip stripes and small dresden blades flowers)
½ yd Posey Medallion Navy (large dresden blades)
¼ yd Green Posey Main (medium dresden blades)
¼ yd Posey Star Green (small dresden blades)
1 ¼ yds Solid White (background)
1 ¼ yds White (backing)
¼ yd Pink (binding)

Notions:
Double Wide Dresden Ruler by Me & My Sister Designs
Thread
Scissors
Turning tool/chop stick
Iron
Spray starch
Basting supplies

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All pieced seams are sewn with 1/4″ seam allowance
All seams are pressed opened to reduce bulk

Blade Cutting
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Center Dresden:

1. Cut an 8” wide strip of the Posey Medallion Navy aka The Llama Medallion.  Line up the 8” line at the bottom of the ruler onto the edge of your fabric, centering a llama medallion as best you can.  Cut 5 large blades.

2. Cut a 5” wide strip of the Green Posey Main. Line up the 5” line at the bottom of the ruler onto the edge of your fabric. Cut 5 medium blades.

Corner Dresdens:

3. Cut a strip of the posey flowers off of the Posey Stripe Navy, then carefully fussy cut the pink and blue flowers using the 3” line on the Double Wide Dresden ruler as a guide. Take your time, this is the hardest part. You may find that you will need to cut another strip to find enough usable flowers. Cut 10 small blue flower and 10 small pink flower blades.

4. Cut a 3” strip of the Posey Star Green then using the 3” line on the ruler cut 20 small blades.

You will have a total of 40 small dresden blades.

Dresden Assembly
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1. Take a fan blade and fold it in half lengthwise. I like to give mine a quick press with my iron to crease the fold line, finger pressing works well too.  Sew ¼” at the top and bottom of the blade. Clip the inside corners just enough to reduce the bulk being careful not to cut through your stitches.

Press open the seams on each end of the blade using your fingers then turn each end right side out. A turning tool or chopstick is especially helpful for poking out the points, be gentle so you don’t push through the ends!

2. Flip your blade so the back is face up and line up the seams you finger pressed open on the center fold line you creased in step 1.  This centers your points. Carefully press them flat with your iron and a bit of steam.

Continue steps 1-2 until all your blades are done.

3. When all your blades have been sewn and pressed, arrange 10 blades to form a dresden plate in the pattern you like best.  For example, for the corner dresdens I used the green print then a blue/pink flower and alternated between those for the corner dresdens.

4. Starting with one dresden plate, take two blades place them right sides together and sew  them together starting at the bottom end of your seam.  As the center of this dresden is exposed rather than hidden your eye looks to the center first. Sewing from the bottom up will also keep your center points aligned all the way around.

*Tip* On the Center Dresden one blade is larger than the other. To keep the exposed sides tucked under on the larger blade go ahead and continue to sew the whole side once you pass the end of the medium blade seam.  When you press your seam open the stitch lines will create a natural exact ¼” for you to press under.

5. Sew and press your blades in groups of 5. For the Center Dresden you will have alternating sizes.

6. Once you have all your blades sewn in groups of 5, take 2 matching blade groups and place them right sides together. Sew from the bottom up, press open and you will have a finished dresden!

Repeat steps 1-5 (3) more times for a total of 4 small corner dresdens and 1 large center dresden.

Attaching the Dresdens
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1. Cut one large 19” x 19” square and (4) 9” x 9” squares from your white background fabric.

2. Fold your squares into fourths and press the center just enough to make light creases. When you open them up you’ll have your exact center for each block.  Use the center points and crease lines to line up the Center Dresden on the 19” x 19” block. Pin in place being careful not to shift it too much.  Do the same for the (4) Corner Dresdens.

3. Sew on the dresdens to the background using any stitch you’d like. I used a machine blanket stitch.

4. Lightly press your completed dresden block and measure your block again.  It may have shrunk ever so slightly (especially if you used a blanket stitch).

Square down your Center Dresden to 18 ½” square and your (4) Corner Dresdens down to 8 ½” square.  Take your time doing this and always measure twice before cutting.

Set squared blocks aside.

Tulip Border Assembly
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1. Using the Posey Stripe Navy fussy cut a 4 ½” wide strip of tulips the width of your fabric. Cut 2 long strips. Cut each strip into 18 ½” lengths for a total of (4) 4 ½” x 18 ½” long tulip strips.

2. Using your remaining white background fabric cut (4) 2 ½” x 18 ½” long strips.

3. Sew one white border strip to one tulip border strip, press seam open.  Then sew a second white border strip onto the opposite side of the tulip strip. Press seam open.

Make 4.

Quilt Top Assembly
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Layout your top using the finished picture as reference.

Start by assembling the Corner Dresden blocks and Tulip borders into horizontal rows.

1. To create one horizontal row take one Corner Dresden keeping your center point pointing up and sew one Tulip Border to the bottom of the Corner Dresden block, press open.  Take a second Corner Dresden, with the center point pointing up and sew that to the bottom of the Tulip Border.

Each Corner Dresden block should have its center points oriented in the same direction.

Make 2 rows like this.

2. To create the middle row take one Tulip border and sew it to the top of the Center Dresden (make sure your Center Dresden’s center point is oriented up), press seam open.  Sew the remaining Tulip border to the bottom of the Center Dresden and press seam open.

3. Sew the Corner Dresden rows to the middle row, press seams open.

Finishing
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1. Make your quilt sandwich (quilt top, batting, backing) and baste together using your favorite method.

2. Quilt! Quilting doesn’t need to be super fancy to have a wow factor. Sometimes straight lines carry a big punch.

3. Cut 4 strips 2 ¼” wide the width of fabric from your pink fabric for your binding. Attach binding.

Hang your new wall hanging in a favorite spot and enjoy! If you like how the one in the picture is displayed you can purchase the curtain rod and hangers at Ikea.

I hope you loved this new pattern! It was quite a challenge to design but I learned so much from making this and I have found a new love for all things Dresden. Thanks also to Riley Blake and Betz White for providing the amazing fabric used to create this project!

Remember this pattern is free for personal use only, please respect copyright laws.

Happy Sewing!

Juxtaposition

I’ve been busy sewing on multiple projects over the last month, one which is still a little hush-hush and others are simply things I’ve been determined to finish.

Betz White is getting ready to release a new fabric line called Juxtaposey and it is so colorful.  I mean it’s saturated and deep and vibrant and lush….and there are llama, guys.  LLAMAS.  Naturally, I jumped at the chance to get my hands on some and now I’m designing a snazzy “posey” version of a dresden plate using the new Double Wide dresden ruler from Me and My Sister Designs.

It’s coming along so nicely and I can’t wait to share it with you once it’s done in April! It’s just what spring ordered!

Also, llamas. All the llamas.

In between cutting out tiny little plate pieces I’ve been doing some embroidery because why not?  I seem to suffer from an inability to finish one project before starting another.  Project burn out is real so there’s no harm in switching focus while your brain mulls things over.

Keep persisting on all those works in progress.

Science Fair Quilt: Behind the Scenes

If you’re wondering what it took to make Science Fair check out some fun little peeks of the progress that spanned over 2 years!

In the beginning there was a jelly roll…..2015 A.D.

I am so glad I finally have a new ironing board cover. The green one pictured was about at the end of its useful life.

What you’re not seeing is the year flying by and 2016 starting.

The halves get sewn together!

It was alot of pinning. So much pinning and then I decided I wasn’t going to do my original quilting pattern and unpinned nearly all of it in favor of some basic straight lines.

Way too ambitious for a table top machine. This would’ve look amazing if I’d been able to have someone quilt it on a long arm.

It took about a month of quilting it off and on and moving the sewing machine to the cutting table for better workflow.

I want to state that I am proud of my binding skills. Though I dislike hand binding it looks so much neater and practice makes perfect.

Even if you feel awkward taking pictures of yourself with your works of art do it anyway. You’ll need a good laugh one day.

 

Science Fair Quilt

Hooray! My first finish of 2017! This quilt has been sitting on my bucket list for over 2 years and has been a WIP for just as long. Despite the wind the sun made a rare appearance and we got all of our pictures done.

Science Fair is a pattern designed by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. Julie is well known for her geometrically inspired designs and her clever quilt rulers. Without her Hex n’ More ruler this pattern would have been darn near impossible to make without alot of beer and cursing.

I specifically picked this pattern because my sister Sarah, who I made this for, and her husband are both chemistry and math geeks. Anyone who knows my undying hatred of math (except algebra, you’re cool) should know that this quilt was finished by sheer willpower and the love I have for my youngest sibling.

It’s always good to have a tall person handy for a quilt shoot.

Happy sewing!

Scaling Up & Moving On

I always joke that with each quilt I make I learn something new.  I have yet to not learn a lesson, a skill or otherwise handy piece of knowledge that can only come from making mistakes and then figuring out how to fix them.

I have little to no experience when it comes to using large scale prints.  I tend to stick to the safe and narrow land of small scale prints or solids.  Boring but like I said, safe.  I’ve been steadily gaining ground on The Birchen Quilt over the last few weeks up until last night when, at long last, I had all my blocks sewn, pressed and ready to layout…..

(forgive the picture it was a quick Instagram snap and I couldn’t even fit the entire layout on my wall)

What I saw made me cringe a bit inside.  The fabric I’d fallen in love with was overwhelming a very cool pattern. I mean the prints were just beating the pattern into submission and it was not pretty.  A few choice phrases, some distracted sewing and an hour later I regrouped my ravaged pride and decided that I only had two choices.

1. I could leave it as is and love the craziness that is MY quilt and my fabric choice. This is the first quilt I’ve ever made for myself.
2. I could rip out the seams of all the Elizabeth bust triangles and find a less glaring print for those 8 blocks *cry*.

But I am SO.TORN.

I mean I am seriously bummed out.  Those blocks are not small (19″ x 19″ as pictured). I love every piece of fabric I picked out and I have sewn over 300 half square triangles and squared them up.  This quilt top has so much work put into it, but it is definitely not what I had in mind and that is very depressing.

I am determined to make this pattern work so for now I’m putting this quilt on hold, stacking up my beautiful blocks and diving into another project while I mull over my two options.

Lesson learned: The scale of your prints is just as important as the color palette.

The Birchen Quilt

It’s incredibly windy and mild today, we’re talking 40 mph windy inside our neighborhood. Even though it’s a nice 64 degrees out it is much too rough to play out in the sun for long without getting chapped cheeks.

I’ve been working on my Birchen Quilt in the mean time and getting the last colorway of the half square triangles sewn together.

 

I gathered the fabric for this last month and should be able to complete the top by mid-March if I can keep a steady sewing rhythm.  I’ve found that I can be very productive in 20-30 minute increments than if I’m sewing for hours on end.  Even though I love sewing and piecing all these tops together it does start to addle my brain after so long, especially when squaring up over 300+ half squares and sewing them together.

Slow and steady!

 

“Selfish Sewing” and Why I’m Giving It Up

Once more as the new year ramps up the hashtag #selfishsewing seems to be creeping back into the trending topics of both Instagram and Twitter.  Why?  The word selfish has no positive meaning to it.  If you think of a selfish person you might conjure up images of a self-absorbed movie star or someone passing a homeless person begging for money.  So why do we insist on using this term with all its negative worth when we create?

Maybe it’s “Mom Guilt” (yet another awesomely bad catch phrase) or just guilt in general.  As women, we are typically raised to be the center of the family sphere and taught that sacrifice is the name of the game.  Everything must come before you’re own needs.  Your boyfriend, husband, children, career, pets, even basic social time with your friends.  The list is endless and you probably fall somewhere around the bottom of it.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Studies have shown that taking time for ourselves as women, as simple humans, to do something we love doing can raise our self-worth, ease stress and make us better able to handle the toddler waking up 3-4 times a night because their blankets slid off.

It can give us a deep sense of fulfillment by helping us not lose ourselves in the everyday grind.  It is vital that we take time for us so that we can be whole.

So, I’m giving it up. I’m not doing any more Selfish Sewing.  Instead I’ll just be sewing or working on my latest project.  Maybe I’ll be donating a selfless sewing project for Craft Hope or doing some mending.  As long as I’m enjoying it, whether it’s sewing, crafting, growing, running, reading, it will never be selfish.

We give so much of ourselves to everyone around us. Don’t let the guilt monster ruin your creativity.

My latest quilt project is the Birchen Quilt which is a FREE pattern you can download from the YouTube quick tutorial video here (go to the info box and click the link).  I’ve been using a combination of Tula Pink’s Elizabeth collection, Cotton + Steel and Kate Spain fabrics.  It is officially the first quilt I’ve made for myself to love and snuggle up in.  It might not be quilted till midsummer but it’ll be ready for next winter and I can not wait to show you once the top is pieced!

 

Something To DO

I have been plowing through projects left and right this month.  I’m really quite impressed with myself for being able to get to a completion point for my Yellow Brick Road quilt and also my first of twelve Mini Barn Cat Quilts.

While I do feel like I have a lot on my plate, creatively speaking, it’s been a rather gratifying start to a new year.  Creativity sparks creativity.

Now if I could just finish my Pink Birdie cross stitch pattern…..

Dear Quilty

The last issue of Quilty hit newsstands a week ago and my final copy arrived last Thursday.  This magazine was wonderful for so many reasons, but I think what made it such a wild success with both new and seasoned quilters was its fresh, humorous and friendly take on absolutely every aspect of the quilt world.

The fact that it also catered to the more modern quilter didn’t hurt either.  With each issue I saw projects and designs/designers and felt inspired to submit a quilt design for publication or encouraged by a kind insider’s word on how to write a quilt book.

Anything you could imagine was here.  It wasn’t just another magazine filled with beautiful quilt patterns, some basic articles and tool tips, it was brimming with advice from color theory, longarm quilting perspectives, beginner quilter interviews, piecing short cuts, advice on being a crafty blogger, on and on.

It did it in such a fun way that I really looked forward to each issue.  It answered questions I never thought to ask and some that I didn’t know who to ask.  So it was with a sad heart that I flipped thru the last publication of a magazine that broke the quilting mold.

Dear Quilty,

Thanks for being awesome.  Thank you for bringing new blood into the sewing fold by showing everyone how amazing quilting can be and why so many of us, young and old, do it.  I’ll miss you.  I don’t know why this is good-bye or what made you decide to stop producing such a quality print, but I will miss so much about you and the contributors and designers.

It’s hard to express a personality thru a magazine, but you did it.  Thanks for all the inspiration and encouragement.  I’ll keep the sewing room light on just in case you decide to come back.

Love,

Rebekah

Unfinished

I’ve been taking a break after a few crazy weeks of project deadlines and general chaos to just mellow out.  Spring is in full swing around these parts which means I’m outside more than I’m in.

But I took a little time away from getting seeds planted and flowers arranged to pull out a few of my languishing works in progress.  I was not pleased to see that blue pinwheel quilt from the Field Greens pattern by Madison Cottage Design, still not even backed….though I know I have the backing and binding for it (labeled) in a bin somewhere.  Looking at the back of that one made me realize that I should go back and press open as many seams as possible to showcase those amazing pinwheel points.  It also reminded me that I finished the top about 2 years ago.  I made this for myself, such a rare thing, and still have yet to enjoy it fully.

Then there’s the Patchwork Bears Baby Quilt from Present Perfect that I helped pattern test for Betz over a year ago.  That also has the backing and binding hiding in one of my bins.  I had to kick myself for not finishing this one when I had the time over the winter.  I even know how I want to quilt it.

And my most recent addition to the “unfinished” pile is my Science Fair quilt from Jaybird Quilts.  Though that one hasn’t been sitting around for very long it’s still been hanging around for too long already.  At least that one is batted, backed and basted.  I love you Hexie quilt, but I just need some “alone time” right now.  I’m not ready to commit my shoulders to quilting you just yet.

Eventually I’ll get my garden in and my flowers finished to the point that they become an enjoyable maintenance for the season. Till then I’ll have to keep these guys neatly tucked away and then suck it up and quilt on.