More Stars in Comanche: B & M Tutorial

Why butter ? The Kona Cotton I chose for the background reminds me of smooth, sweet, creamy butter.

Why marmalade ? I used Bonnie and Camille's Marmalade fabric.

This quilt is 57" x 73"

I used the Darlene Zimmerman ruler.

Determine what size Dresden plate you want to make. I chose to make a 5" blade on a 14" block.

For this project I bought 2 Marmalade layer cakes, I used one and part of the second one for the blades and scrappy border. I also bought 2 yards red Kona Cotton and 2 yards yellow Kona.

You will have some left over, but I'm sure that won't be a problem for most of us.

Cut a strip of fabric the width of the size wedge you've chosen to make.

Layer cakes work great if you're making a 5" blade, all you have to do is cut them in half.

I stacked and cut my fabric 4 layers at a time.

Begin by cutting the end off .

Turn the fabric around and make the next cut, a rotating cutting mat is perfect for this.

You flip the ruler back and forth like this to cut the wedges.

Tip : Use the blades as leaders and enders on other projects. I did, so I had a head start on this quilt.

All seam allowances are 1/4"

Shorten the stitch length on your machine. I set my Janome on 1.8

Fold the top edges, right sides together and chain stitch.

Trim the corner off to reduce bulk.

Put you pointer, or middle finger inside the blade, thumb on top.

Pinch together flattening the seam to one side and turn right side out.

You can use the corner of the ruler or

a pair of scissors to push the point out.

To join the wedges - sew from top to bottom.

TIP: When you clip the wedges apart, clip it at the top of the wedge, then you won't have straggly bits of thread you have to snip off. The bottom doesn't matter, it will be covered by the center circle.

20 wedges are sewn together to make one Dresden plate.

Press all of the seams in the same direction.

I cut my block 14" square according to the chart.

To find the center of your block - fold it in quarters and press the corner.

Center the plate in the middle of the block. Pin in position.

It's your choice to applique by machine or by hand :
I used the blanket stitch on my machine with the stitch length and width set very short.

There are many ways to make the center circles. This is the easiest way for me.

I made a template from a piece of cardboard and found a bowl from my kitchen cabinet that was a little bigger than the center of the Dresden. With right sides of circle front and back fabrics together, trace around your template. (I used muslin for the circle back.) Set you stitch length very short, mine was 1.2 and sew on the pencil line. It's super easy sewing because your stitch length is so small, the needle almost follows the pencil mark by itself !

Trim the excess fabric away very close to the stitch line.
No need to do that tedious clipping all the way around.

This is what it will look like.

Cut slits in the muslin and turn right side out. Run your finger along the inside seam of your circle to push it out, then press around the edge on the back. Let it cool down, flip it over to the right side and give it a good press by setting the iron straight down on it.

Don't iron back and forth, that causes stretching and wonkiness!

I used the same applique stitch on the circle as I did to applique the blades.

I wanted 2 1/2 ' strips for all sashings and borders.

Use the diagram to assemble the quilt.

Tip: To match seams when sewing your rows together, place right sides together and roll the top row back. You can easily see if they are matching.