Dresden Plate

[Juliet W.]

This is frustrating and embarassing! I am doing some dresden plates for a quilt, using the pattern from Alex Anderson's book Neutral Essentials P.28. I have made 3 so far and each time no matter how careful I am there almost seems to be an extra "petal" and the thing will NOT lie flat. I counted the petals and there are only 12 as required. The first time I unpicked a few and corrected the seams, the next time the seams look right to me so I just folded it in half and machined across the extra. Painful but the quilting police do not live near my house, however they are in my head and I cannot bear this result. Is there a trick to this or what can I be doing wrong?

[Margo C.]

Margarita, why don't you make a template of the correct FINISHED size that each petal should be and see how that lines up with your stitched petals.
If the finished size does not match your accurate template, you seam allowances are not correct.

Because your stitched units are too large, it might be possible to make minute adjustments to each seam to make it lie flat, but it would be better to figure out how to make the seams the right size to begin with.

Maybe reviewing my "test" for seam allowances would help? http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569415726bHNKHF

[Margo C.]

It also could be that the pattern in the book is not the right 100% perfect angle. Did you trace the pattern off? Did you use a copy machine? The size of the petal is very important... if it's a smidge too wide or not the right angle exactly, the end result will not lie flat. So you need to check that too.

[Margo C.]

It also could be that the pattern in the book is not the right 100% perfect angle. Did you trace the pattern off? Did you use a copy machine? The size of the petal is very important... if it's a smidge too wide or not the right angle exactly, the end result will not lie flat. So you need to check that too.

Michelle!!! You are right!!! I have Alex's book and traced off a Dresden plate using the pattern given in the book, and the pattern is wrong!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

Margarita, you can either make your own pattern, or contact Alex to see if she can send you a correct pattern. community/my-profile/AlexAnderson

I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS!!

[Juliet W.]

Thank you all so much! I made a very accurate template of the pattern from the book with template plastic just like Sally Collins did on her Mastering Precision Piecing class. So my pattern is an exact copy. The really funny - ha ha and peculiar - thing is that I ordered Darlene Zimmerman's Easy Dresden acrylic template but as it didn't fit I just thought it was because Alex's dresden plate has 12 petals. I see I will have to read the instructions that came with the template but I will write to Alex as well. Margo you always rescue me, just when I was thinking I was nuts and my ambition to go beyond squares and rectangles was not going to work out! I felt so stupid and now I am very glad I got on the forum for help.

[Juliet W.]

Well done ladies!

[Juliet W.]

Margarita, I just had an experience with the Darlene Zimmerman template. I was teaching how to do a Dresden Plate the other day at my guild using a freezer paper template. (Our current BOM has one in it and I was this month's teacher.)

One of the ladies had used Darlene's template and couldn't figure out why her Dresden Plate would not lay flat. It turns out that that Darlene Template Ruler is ONLY for 20 Wedges!! Our BOM block called for 16 wedges! So the number of wedges makes a huge difference. I doubt you can use the Darlene Ruler for 12 wedges if it calls for 20. I do not know if she sells different rulers for different numbers of wedges in a plate.

Think of it this way: You have a pie. A pie is a circle that is 360 degrees. If you cut 4 pieces equally, each piece is 90 degrees. If you cut 8 pieces, each piece is 45 degrees. If you cut 12 pieces, each piece is 30 degrees. If you cut 16 pieces, each piece is 22.5 degrees. If you cut 20 pieces, each piece is 18 degrees. It's easy to figure out -- just divide 360 by the number of wedges (pieces of pie) you want.

So you need a wedge that is the right size (30 degrees wide) to make a Dresden plate that has 12 wedges. If you want to make your own template, use a protractor or the 30 degree lines on your cutting ruler to draw one out on either freezer paper or template plastic. I bet you can even google 30 degree dresden plate template or something like that and find a free one online to print out. But make sure it's the right size before you cut your fabric!!

HTH!!

[Norma H.]

Maybe your problem is solved by now. Michelle explained it very well.
I want to add that you can find all those different patterns in EQ7. I printed one in a pdf file, so you can see the exact size. It will always be the same around the center, so you will just have to adjust your template to the right length to fit your quilt.
You can get my pdf here: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4117199/dre..._12_wedges.pdf

[ANNE E.]

I don't know if this will help but I would watch show 502 with Anelie Belden (Thoughly Modern Dresden)
Anne

[Juliet W.]

Thank you so much everyone, I have downloaded the pdf. and taken on board all the advice and looked at my ruler and see what you mean about 30 degrees. I'm really grateful for all this help, I was thrown out of math class age 14 and would not have worked this out alone. I am not stupid the teacher was a dinosaur! I will watch the show too first as no doubt there may be some good tips to get these puppies lined up correctly. Thanks ! Margarita

[Hannelore N.]

Margarita, your 'dinosaur' has moved to the UK. He is now in the school where I work, in the fourth classroom on the left when you walk along the Maths corridor.

I've been reading this with interest because I have that book by Alex and was thinking that I really should be brave and try one of those petal things some time.

[Catherine S.]

I took a Kay England class last year. She explained it all very well and it was fairly fast. I really enjoyed doing this project. The quilt top is finished, but not quilted yet. She has a wide range of rulers in the various degrees.

[Juliet W.]

Thanks for that info. I just took a quick look around the Kay England website and she certainly has a lot of rulers!

[Juliet W.]

Gosh, I've been looking at rulers to buy to make a dresden plate, but they don't say how many pieces that particular ruler will make for the plate. I suppose I could take my compass to the store and measure, but that'd be a hassle. Would I be correct to assume that these rulers mostly are made for 12 pieces? Or, maybe I shouldn't assume!

[Catherine S.]

Penny, there are 360 degrees in a circle. If you divide that by the number of degrees on the ruler, it will give you the number of pieces need for the dresden plate. 22.5 degrees needs 16 pieces, 30 deg. needs 12 pieces, 45 deg. = 8 pieces, and 60 deg. = 6 pieces. Hope this helps.