The Poly Parrot - Just a quick question from my thread on the main board: When you use invisible thread for the top stitching of applique do you not follow the shape of the dresden plate blades? Or since it's invisible do you just do a circle and avoid the pivoting/up/down?

I follow the edges. I'm doing it on my large embroidery machine and it has the setting so when I stop, the needle goes down and the foot lifts about 1/4" off the fabric, so pivoting is real simple. Well, not so simple when you are sewing the plate to a full size quilt top! Glad my machine has a very large throat.

Here are more pictures, showing how I plan on combining the plates with doilies. I'll move them around as I get more done, but this is what I'm after. Hope to make a trip to the LQS this afternoon to look for fabric to use for the background.

I went through my tote of doilies and selected some to choose from. The last pic is an idea I'm not sure if I'm going to go with or not. Nothing is sewn down on this plate yet. I made all the circles for a different plate and then didn't like how that turned out. I may decide to save them for a plate that has less movement to start with.

I use turned edges on the blades, so I follow all the edges to sew it down - lots of pivoting and turning! :)

If you put a facing on the outside edge of the plate, then you can sew only a circle on the outside, leaving the rounded ends of the blades free and dimensional.

That is a gorgeous plate! All the fussy cutting and attention to detail - just outstanding!

Here some of the dresden plates I'm working on.

Queen - I really like those colors, that is going to be very pretty when complete.


This is an update on what I'm working on. I went to the LQS looking for ombre fabric and found some with a green tone that I really liked. Unfortunalty I had figured yardage based on ombre that went from dark to light and back to dark, and what I bought only goes from dark to light so I would have needed to buy twice as much to have enough dark to go around the perimeter. I had also bought a dark green to go with for border and binding,.

Ended up pulling fabric from the stash that went with the dark green I bought and assembled the background. Now to start playing with the plates. I am going to sew them down in the quilting process. I'm not liking the brown plate, so I think that will get pulled and left for another project. I sprayed the doilies with Terial Magic and that is keeping them in shape. Once I have more plates made, I'll play around with it laying flat so I can easily move pieces around. Way to much work to pin and unpin!

This is 60x60. I'm making it as a wall hanging for my office.

Ooh, Cathy. That's really gorgeous!

Too late to join? I have one very large block, made with ties. I would like to make some smaller blocks to complete. I will try and get a picture posted.

Beautiful Cathy! I love the combination of the soft doilies with the bright colors in the dresden. So gossamer!

And CrafterBarbara - a dresden made from ties sounds fabulous!

crafterbarbara, I'd love to see what you've done with ties. I collected an assortment of ties and have a tote of them, but no ideas.