Christmas Dresdan Placemats Tutorial
I've been working on these little darlings for a while now between my other projects, and I'm happy to say that they are finally complete. I made a set of 8 and a 5 section runner for one Christmas gift, and a set of 6 for another Christmas gift. I'm thankful that the second recipient has a round table that seats only 6!
These placemats are 14 1/2 inches high by 23 1/2 inches long.
Years ago I made a similar set of placemats using a pattern found in this book:
However that was before I bought this little beauty. Yes that is the Missouri Star Quilt Company emblem you see and yes I did buy it onsite in Hamilton. Please don't hate me. I didn't see Jenny :(
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Google Missouri Star Quilt Company and Jenny Doan. Her YouTube quilting videos are amazing.
Back to my tutorial...
The pattern in the book above had me make a cardboard template, and only had 16 sections in a Dresdan wreath. Using the Dresdan Plate, which you can buy in most quilt stores or order online, you will have 20 sections.
I cut my sections 6 inches long. Just cut 6 inch strips from your fabric, and then flip the plate vertically to line up each cut. I used 8 different fabrics for my Dresdans, 4 red and 4 green. You can use just one fabric, two fabrics, or any combination up to 20 different fabrics. To make 4 placemats you will need 20 wedges.
Now use your finger to turn them right side out with a point at the top. If your fingers are large you might need a pointed object such as a crochet hook to push out the tips.
Next you have to decide how you want to lay out your wedges to make the Dresdan. You need to put 2 same wedges at the bottom separated by one different wedge. These wedges will make your bow.
My bow will be made with the 2 darker red wedges separated by the green wedge with the prominent gold star.
Now you start to sew the wedges together in pairs. Then in groups of 4. Then one group of 8 and one group of 12, and finally one group of all 20. Line up the outer edges. Don't worry if the round edges in the centre of the Dresdan are not lined up because these will be covered.
Don't forget to iron at each step!
Next you stitch the Dresdan onto a center for your placemats. Measure your Dresdans. I decided that I would put mine on a 15 inch square. You can make this smaller by cutting your Dresdans smaller...for example 5 1/2 inches long or 5 inches long. Anyway...mine cut from a 6 inch long strip fit nicely on a 15 inch square.
There are no raw edges showing on the outside of the Dresdan, so you can sew it on however you want. I chose a blanket stitch. I didn't stitch around the 2 that will make my bow, because that comes in the next step.
Now you need to cut out pieces to make your bow. I am terrible at drawing, but I did manage to draw out the 2 side pieces, and I actually used the bottom of a can of basting spray as the template for my center circles.
Make sure you place your templates over the Dresdan to make sure that they look ok and cover all raw edges in the center before you do anything else! Now you make your applique pieces. There are several methods of doing this, so choose your favourite. I trace my templates onto heat and bond paper, and then iron the paper onto my fabric. You will notice that I labeled my pieces on the heat and bond paper. That is so I know I have enough, and so that I keep numbers on the left and letters on the right.
Next you cut them out and iron onto the Dresdan. Beautiful already!
You need to sew around the edges of the applique pieces, and I wanted to make the bow stand out, so I chose a gold thread, and a very thin zigzag stitch. I'll post a pic of the settings that I used on my sewing machine.
Almost done!
Now to make them into placemats. You can use the 'pillow' method, where you place a piece of batting on your surface, followed by the top/bottom of the placemat good side up, followed by the other side of the placemat wrong side up. Then you sew around the placemat leaving a strip about 2 1/2 inches un-sewn so that you can turn them right side out. The hole has to be sewn after they are turned and ironed. That is the method I used here. The other way is to make a quilt sandwich like you would make for a quilt, and then bind it just like you would bind a quilt. I chose not to do that for these because I had too many to do!
For my backs I used the same fabric I used for the center 15 inch square. It's up to you what you want to choose.
Finally I topstitched around the outer edges, including where the center square meets the outer borders. I used a decorative herringbone stitch. I chose not to do any more quilting, because I liked the look I had. Another option would be to make the placemat 'pillows' before you sew on the Dresdan. In the picture above to the left, you can see what the stitching from that would look like on the back of the placemat.
For my runner, I measured the table length and decide I wanted to use 5 Dresdans and the dividing borders. I put them together end to end and then followed the same method as I did for the placemats.
How much fabric will you need?
For 4 placemats you will need a quarter metre for each of the colours of your wedges. If you are like me you probably have enough in your stash!
If you are going to use the same colour on your sides as you did on your bows, you will need a 0.75 metres of that colour. Cut your sides before you cut your wedges and the applique pieces!
For the center squares you will need a meter.
For the backs you will need 1.5 meters.
If you decide to make 6 placemats a quarter meter of the wedge colours should be enough. You will need a meter of the side colour, 1.25 metres of the centre square fabric, and 2 meters of the back fabric. For 8...again a quarter meter will likely be enough to cut your wedges, but double all the other requirements listed for 4 placemats.
Fold a wedge in half lengthwise and sew the edges on the wide end together using a 1/4 inch seam. I've put my photos out of order and you have no idea how long it took me to transfer that collage from my phone to here, so I'm not going back to fix it! Notice behind the presser foot there is another wedge. I chain pieced all of these at once, then snipped the thread chains. This was the pile I ended up with.
Next you have to decide how you want to lay out your wedges to make the Dresdan. You need to put 2 same wedges at the bottom separated by one different wedge. These wedges will make your bow.
My bow will be made with the 2 darker red wedges separated by the green wedge with the prominent gold star.
Don't forget to iron at each step!Next you stitch the Dresdan onto a center for your placemats. Measure your Dresdans. I decided that I would put mine on a 15 inch square. You can make this smaller by cutting your Dresdans smaller...for example 5 1/2 inches long or 5 inches long. Anyway...mine cut from a 6 inch long strip fit nicely on a 15 inch square.
There are no raw edges showing on the outside of the Dresdan, so you can sew it on however you want. I chose a blanket stitch. I didn't stitch around the 2 that will make my bow, because that comes in the next step.
Now you need to cut out pieces to make your bow. I am terrible at drawing, but I did manage to draw out the 2 side pieces, and I actually used the bottom of a can of basting spray as the template for my center circles.
Make sure you place your templates over the Dresdan to make sure that they look ok and cover all raw edges in the center before you do anything else! Now you make your applique pieces. There are several methods of doing this, so choose your favourite. I trace my templates onto heat and bond paper, and then iron the paper onto my fabric. You will notice that I labeled my pieces on the heat and bond paper. That is so I know I have enough, and so that I keep numbers on the left and letters on the right.
Next you cut them out and iron onto the Dresdan. Beautiful already!
You need to sew around the edges of the applique pieces, and I wanted to make the bow stand out, so I chose a gold thread, and a very thin zigzag stitch. I'll post a pic of the settings that I used on my sewing machine.
Almost done!
Now you have to add some sides. I used 5 inch strips of the same fabric I used for the bows. Obviously these are also 15 inches high.
Now to make them into placemats. You can use the 'pillow' method, where you place a piece of batting on your surface, followed by the top/bottom of the placemat good side up, followed by the other side of the placemat wrong side up. Then you sew around the placemat leaving a strip about 2 1/2 inches un-sewn so that you can turn them right side out. The hole has to be sewn after they are turned and ironed. That is the method I used here. The other way is to make a quilt sandwich like you would make for a quilt, and then bind it just like you would bind a quilt. I chose not to do that for these because I had too many to do!
For my backs I used the same fabric I used for the center 15 inch square. It's up to you what you want to choose.
Finally I topstitched around the outer edges, including where the center square meets the outer borders. I used a decorative herringbone stitch. I chose not to do any more quilting, because I liked the look I had. Another option would be to make the placemat 'pillows' before you sew on the Dresdan. In the picture above to the left, you can see what the stitching from that would look like on the back of the placemat.
How much fabric will you need?
For 4 placemats you will need a quarter metre for each of the colours of your wedges. If you are like me you probably have enough in your stash!
If you are going to use the same colour on your sides as you did on your bows, you will need a 0.75 metres of that colour. Cut your sides before you cut your wedges and the applique pieces!
For the center squares you will need a meter.
For the backs you will need 1.5 meters.
If you decide to make 6 placemats a quarter meter of the wedge colours should be enough. You will need a meter of the side colour, 1.25 metres of the centre square fabric, and 2 meters of the back fabric. For 8...again a quarter meter will likely be enough to cut your wedges, but double all the other requirements listed for 4 placemats.
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