I am so excited to share with you this Patriotic Dresden Pillow. I was sent a dresden ruler from Nancy’s Notions and decided it was time to start adding some accessories to my front porch, and a pillow for my prized chairs built for me by my dad more than 15 years ago would be a great place to start. The hardest part was choosing fabric. Sometimes you hang on to fabric for a while waiting for just the right project to come along. That happened to me with the Doodlebug Designs Star Spangled fabric bundle. I’ve had it for 3 years now just waiting for the right thing, and this project was the winner.
Would you believe I’ve never made a dresden plate before? They always intimidated me with their angles and applique. But, they are actually pretty easy and fun and with the instructions that come with the ruler, even a first time run at them can be successful!
I love every single print in this fabric line! I’m excited to finish up the second pillow so I can put them out on my porch.
I’m liking where this is going!
Some notes on the finished pillow:
I used a 20″ pillow form and put a hidden zipper closure on the back. I used the 7″ measurement on the ruler- it’s so nice that you can make tons of different sizes with just the one ruler.
To center the dresden plate on the pillow front, I just folded the background fabric into quarters and finger pressed creases on the folds, then I lined up the points of the applique with the creased lines, quick and easy! I did the same thing when positioning the center applique circles. 😉
I used a simple edge stitch to attach the applique to the pillow front, but you could use any of the recommended stitches in the book that comes with your acrylic ruler.
I had a lot of fun using this ruler and I thought the book that came with it was very helpful and informative. I referred to it often when making this pillow. I will definitely be using the ruler again with future projects!
If you’d like a more detailed tutorial on how I constructed the pillow, let me know in the comments, I would be happy to help.
xoxo,
Amy
