Sorry guys, I have searched on the board for the answer but I guess I just did not type in the right thing. My question is - Doing applique and the pattern is 12 x 12 block how big to I cut my background square? Do I cut it 14 x 14 to give extra room for the applique and then square it up? Found out last night that a good friend of mine is getting married in October and I want to make her a Dresden Heart quilt. Thanks in advance for your help :)

I would cut it bigger, do the applique and than square up. Just make sure that your Dresden heart is in the exact middle. Ask me how I know!

I, also, cut mine bigger and then square it up. I do machine applique and find that starching the background heavily eliminates the need for extra stabilizer.

I do both hand and machine and cut my squares 1 inch larger.

If it's machine applique, aside from cutting the background squares larger and trimming to correct size after appliqueing, I heavily starch the background fabric so I don't need to use stabilizer underneath. This keeps the background fabric nice and flat.

I always cut mine out larger....they tend to "shrink" when you're doing applique. And it's a whole lot easier to trim away than to figure out what the heck to do with a block that's 1/2" too small... :lol: :lol:

yes, that's what I would do too.

It's a good idea to cut it bigger and square it up. Don't ask how I know. :oops: :oops: :oops: