I just had a wonderful time making a dresden plate baby quilt but now I don't know how to quilt it. I've heard you don't quilt on applique....can you tell I'm pretty new to this applique business??...so what do I do??

You can quilt on applique :D it is your quilt and you can quilt it however you like :D:D:D

If you are handquilting, it might be difficult quilting within the plates, but if you are machine quilting? I say go for it. :D:D:D

You could SID the Dresden Plate and do a meander outside of the Dresden. I don't usually quilt on my applique', but it is a personal preference.

Its all up to you and how you want to quilt it.

As for quilting on applique, I have examples of antique applique quilts where it was quilted in an all over pattern and they went right throught the applique with no reqard for the applique design

Todays quilters tend to quilt around the applique first, then within the applique as it suits to add to the design.

Dresden quilts need to be quilted within the plate as it is too much unquilted space to just quilt around the outside and in the circle. I have seen two quilting designs that both do nicely. One is to quilt in the ditch between the panels and the other is to quilt 1/4 inch inside each one. Then a quilted design in the circle and of course the plain space between the plates.

i've quilted 2 dresden plate quilts- one i quilted -stitch in the ditch down each blade-and around the center- with a (gentle) stiple on the outside-background area.
the other i did not stitch on the plates- i stitched 1/4" ourside the plates and did an echo quilting.
both turned out very nice.
quilt it however you would like.
the first time i saw a wonderful hand appliqued quilt- that was heavily machine quilted i was shocked! but it was beautiful and exactly what the maker wanted so-...

here is a dresden table runner I quilted. I went around the edge of each petal

Bearutiful...........thanks for the illustrations..........

Bearutiful...........thanks for the illustrations..........

you can quilt a design in the 4 orners between the plates as well as around each one to give dimension.

Great job!!! I had the same question - thanks for answering it for me too!!!