bravo to you for starting with the dresden, its not that hard and you'll learn so much.
i would do a facing edge since this is your first time and then you can machine applique the plate to the background fabric.
here is a tutorial on how to do facing on a dresden, its for a skirt (facing is popular in fashion sewing and art quilts)
even though its a skirt the facing process is exactly the same.
please feel free to PM me if you need help, i've made many dresden blocks and i do facings all the time.
here's the link
http://crafterhours.blogspot.com/201...-tutorial.html