Finished Dresden Plates!

I finished all ten of of my Dresden plate blocks!  I still need to do the ten Dresden butterflies though, so I guess I have half of my blocks done!  This was my first time to do applique, so I had a LOT to learn, I still do!
First I cut out 20 - 16 in. background backs.  Ironed them twice, then gave up and ironed them again using starch.

First you need to find the center of the square by folding it in quarters, and then pressing down.  When you open it, you will have your center marked.

I bought a fabric glue stick to hold my plates down, I ran out by plate 8 and finished them up using a regular glue stick.  I glued each wedge.  You can also use pins to pin them down.

Next I centered the plates and pressed them down.  Line up the wedges evenly on the lines.

I did not have time to hand applique it, so I did a blanket stitch with a bold color (turquoise) to outline the outside of the plates.  Line the needle up on the edge plates and select the blanket stitch on your machine.  If you do not want your stitch to show, you could use a straight stitch with invisible thread.

I would just leave my block in the machine when I had to stop and do other things, of course Pippi thought it was a perfect spot to sleep!

Here is a close up of the blanket stitch when it was done.  I really like the way the outline turned out.

I'll do a tutorial on the centers in my next blog post.  I'm hoping to get started on the butterflies today.  Muffin, Boots, and Tiger had to inspect my blocks.  Pippi kept trying to grab the buttons and run off with them, so she is not in any of these pictures.

If you would like to see how to make the plates go here.
I'm spending the day with a friend sewing, but first we are going to half price day at Goodwill.
Have a great day ya'll!
Missy