Rhonda's Dresden Kaleidoscope Tutorial
 

I was asked to do a tutorial on my Dresden Kaleidoscopes. I can give you the very basics.

I do send out free templates for this if you send me your postal address in a pm.

Here is the fabric I used for this lesson

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Trace the elements in the fabric
onto the clear plastic template
so you can see to place it on the
next repeat
Trace around the template for the blade

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Here is the template so you
can see my tracing.
Place the template on the next repeat
match the tracing to the elements on the fabric
Trace around the template

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Here you can see where the repeats are
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Okay cut out the blades and sew them together
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Here you can see 4 blades sewn together
and the design starts to show up
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You will need 10 blades if you use my templates.
I like to sew 5 together and then trim if need be to have a straight edge
then sew both halves together.

Here are a few of my dresden kaleidoscopes

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This one was roosters
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this one was cats and the
center looks like a spider to me
but it is really cat tails
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I really like those. Thank you for being so kind as to mail out template upon request.

You're welcome. I love making these. I will warn you they are addictive!

those came out awesome

The salmon one(first one) I just did recently. I really love that fabric for this.

I should post all the threads I've done in the past to show the DKs I've posted

Thank you so much for showing this. I love this board how they share their talents. I will call this "fussy cut Dresden," even though it comes out Kaleidoscope.

Great pieces

wow I think I could do that. I've always wanted to do a kaleidescope but was too scared of wasting fabric cuz of mistakes. Thank you

I've got rulers and whatnot for making dresdens and kaleidoscopes, but haven't used them yet. Yours are gorgeous!!! Thanks for the eye candy!!! (and inspiration!)

Hi Love your Dresden. Thank you, Mikki Gracey

Thanks for the tute. You do beautiful work. Will PM you with my address for the templates. Thanks.

thanks for the tut

Thanks for sharing..

Thanks for the inspiration. Your designs are lovely.

Love all of them! Beautiful

I woulld like a template for the Dresden. My Address is Anne Dirks 8580 AL HWY 116 Gainesville, AL 35464

Very nice!

So what will you make out of all the left over fabric??? Just curious.....

I can get about 6 dks out of a yard. then the left over fabric can be used for a crazy quilt block adding to other fabrics. I also use a template that is only 2 inches and one that is 3" to make mini dresden ks. These make a 4" and 6" dks.

plus all the scraps work nicely into your fabulous scrappy miniatres, rhonda! :)) ... nothing over 3/4" goets wasted in my stash!

Yes you're right Ronda I do use down to even a half inch sometimes. I use an 1/8" seam allowance and have used the tiniest of slips of fabric. I love the challenge.

This is beautiful, thank you for the tutorial!!

as do i. the challenge, the tiny intricacies... and the minis just seem to look so amazing to me. when i first became interested in making miniatures years ago, i had taken a class by sally collins. she had us use 1/4" and trim to 1/8" ...over the years i have gone smaller in patches and just sew 1/8" as needed ...i don't always have large enough piece for full 1/4". i sew on machine, but have done a few seams by hand when needed. now all i need to do is find more time to work on my treasures :))

I started because I wanted to challenge myself. I used 3/4" squares and sewed by hand. It takes 3 stitches to sew a 3/4" sq to a 3/4" sq. LOL I used to make mini quilts for my billfolds I made and it was all by hand. I was not sure I could do it on the machine. I had to learn to do it that way as I was selling to the local gift shop and didn't have time to make them all by hand. My finished squares in most of my minis were 1/8" finished.

It's also satisfying to be able to do something that a lot of people can't do. strokes your ego ya know? LOL
It's definitely a God given talent. that is why I love to share is because God gave it to me so I pass on what I can.

Very oretty!

Is the pattern for kaleidoscopes the same as the Dresden? It looks like the kaleidoscopes are just fussy cut dresdens. Is that correct.

These are great! I think I could do those!

Thank you so much. Love them.

Yes Dakota Rose it is a fussy cut Dresden. that is why it is called a Dresden Kaleidoscope. It is not my original idea but other than the ebook I wrote on it there isn't a lot out there for instructions on making them. I learned to make them 30 yrs ago and I love making them. they can be addictive!

Thanks for a great tutorial

I want to make some of these, b-a-d! How do you finish the outside edge if you are going to put it in a quilt?

Your work is beautiful. Thank you for offering to send the template for the kaleidoscope. I will PM you my address.

Rhonda, I simply love this idea and I would love to have the templates. Dresdens are one of my favorite patterns to make. Thanks for sharing your talents with the board members as we all appreciate it so much.
Pat

How great is that, you explained very well and I appreciate the visuals and the offer. I can see how it can be addictive......very nice

I like to use an embroidery stitch called the herringbone and I do it by hand. but recently I started using the buttonhole stitch on my Brother and that works well also.

I loved your tutorial and the results are so beautiful!

Thank you for the inspiration and offer of free template. i think I will enjoy these as much as the Boston Blocks. Will PM my address.

Those are beautiful!!! Great job.

A great tutorial - thank you so much.

These are just lovely.