Dresden Plate Cushion Tutorial

Today I am going to show you how I made this Dresden plate cushion. It is a birthday present for a friend of a friend and I hope she is going to love it.

Choose some pretty fabrics, I used a selection of 5 fat quarters and still had lots left over.

Using a Dresden Plate Ruler - cut out 20 segments and chain piece them together.

After doing that I poked out the points using my fabulous wooden iron.

I love my wooden iron. It was made by my quilter friend Irene's husband. It's beautifully crafted and made from purple heart wood. That's the real colour - it's not been stained.

Back to the cushion - join the segments together in groups of five, then join them to make the plate. Applique onto a 12 and a half " square

I then added a one and a half inch inner border followed by an outer border made up of 7 x 21/2 " squares. This completes the cushion top.

Quilt as desired and add any embellishments or embroidery. I hand quilted mine and added the name of the person who it is for.

Next step is to add the lace and frilled edging. I cheated and bought ready gathered lace. The frill is made exactly the same way as binding for a quilt. I made mine 3 inches wide ( before being folded.)

Start by making a small fold in the lace and stitch all the way around, making a little pleat just before and after each corner.

Next add the frill. Start by turning under 1 cm twice and sew from there.
To get the ruffle effect, make a fold about every inch or so.

This is a good angle to see but please excuse my mangled nail. ( I cut my finger with rotary cutter at Christmas and had actually cut my nail. It is just growing out now) Sorry I know its gross!

When doing the corners, as with the lace just do a couple of pleats close together and close to the corner as you can. Sew right up to quarter inch away, leave needle in, lift foot and swivel round. Pull out the corner away from the needle, make a pleat as close as you can and carry on until completed.

It should look something like this now. See the split - just sew this together from the back. Now for the backing. Hem 2 pieces of fabric - one longer then the other and the width of the cushion.

Before I attach the backing I put a pin in each corner to keep the frill and lace out of the way.

With right sides together, pin the longer side down first with the hemmed side to the bottom of the cushion. Sew slowly. There are quite a few layers here but I just have a basic machine and it coped well. Attach the other half in the same way

Not forgetting to take your pins out of the corners - turn right side out and your cushion is ready for stuffing.

I hope you enjoyed my post - next I will be working on my batik wall hanging and my magic lantern quilt.
Happy sewing until the next time.

Rhianon.