Dresden Stars -- a Tutorial Series

 In 2015, another shop owner showed me a vintage quilt with a unique six-pointed star block I had never seen.  I took pictures and set out to discover the name and source of the block.  But alas, I could not find anything.  I was mid-stream in my obsession with six-pointed stars and "needed" to piece that block so I figured it out from scratch.  It was so much easier to piece than I expect that I wrote my pattern, Dresden Stars to share what I figured out with others.

Fast forward to the pandemic (why does that sound so wrong?) when I started selling my patterns as PDF's on Etsy.  Every time I sell a copy of Dresden Stars, I message the buyer thanking them and saying, "I'm going to do a series of tutorials on my blog for this pattern"  . . . soon!?!  Well, "soon" has finally arrived and today is the first of what I expect will be a five posts as I construct a new version.

I hope you will sew along with me, so I'll space the posts to make that easier.  Even if you aren't interested in sewing along right now, I hope you'll get ideas from the posts and perhaps try piecing just one block to get a feel for it.  It's also a good introduction to my "set-in piecing simplified" technique!

The pattern is written for a small lap/crib size quilt but I'm going to make a large lap size this time so this will also serve as supplementary instructions for the pattern on how to enlarge the quilt size.   The instructions are written for machine piecing with templates from Marti Michell, but a template sheet is also included for those who prefer to hand-piece.

If you don't have the pattern, it's available HERE in my Etsy Shop for $8 US.  You might also like to invest in my Set-In Piecing Simplified teaching guide ($10 US) as a companion.

The templates I use are Marti Michell Set H plus the 2" Kite and Crown Set.  Both are available directly from her website -- click on the name of each above to go straight to the shop.  At the end of the series, I'll review some other patterns that can be pieced with these sets to help you maximize your investment.

Today, I'll share my thoughts on fabric requirements.  Let me begin by saying I hope you'll use some stash for this project!!  Nothing gives me as much satisfaction as using some of my stash!!

I'll be using a layer cake but you could also use a jelly roll -- both will give you enough variety of prints and quantity of fabric to piece a large lap size quilt top.  And sometimes it's nice to not have to make any fabric choices -- just grab and sew! 

 If you chose to work with a fabric line assortment, take some time this week to rough draft some color combos.  I begin by eliminating pieces/strips that don't contrast clearly with the background fabric  chosen.  The easiest way to do that is lay the prints on the background fabric, squint at them and if you can't clearly see a line of demarcation between the two fabrics, set it aside.

Here you see the squares I've set aside with light backgrounds since I'm using a light Grunge for my background.  I expect to be able to use these prints for the setting triangles in the final quilt so they won't go to waste.  

Once the elimination step is done, I match up contrasting pairs of squares or strips.  Hanging them on a design wall or laying them out on a table and letting them rest for a day helps me decide if I like my choices.  Here are some combos I'm auditioning.

Prints that I don't use in the combinations are set aside for the "tips" of the diamonds.  I decide on the "tip" fabric when I'm cutting my pieces.   Seven combinations are needed for the pattern size and I'll need thirteen combinations for the large lap size I'm piecing.

When I work from my "big" stash, I love sorting through it and making combinations of prints that I like.  A color or style theme is a helpful way to start this process.   30's reproduction prints would be fun or a stack of batiks.  If you've never tried a "triad" color scheme, that would be fun!  Triad color schemes are popular with designers and understanding that makes it easy to pull interesting color combinations from my stash.  A quilt I finished recently is lavender, soft orange, and yellow green -- a triad created by selecting three colors evenly spaced around a color wheel.

Here's a blogpost I found that explains this concept with good illustrations.

I could start in my scrap stash of 2 1/2" strips with no trouble!

So here are some action steps for this week:

1. Find your copy of the pattern (is it in the "download" folder on your computer?) or purchase a copy from my Etsy shop.

2. Check to see if you have either of Marti's template sets -- if not, see if your local shop stocks them or is willing to special order them or order them direct from Marti (use links above).  I'll also explain how to make "templates" from the pattern next week if you don't want to invest in Marti's templates.

3. Find the fabric you want to use!  Either a layer cake; or a jelly roll; or do some stash busting.  I use almost two full 2 1/2" strips for each star plus 12" of a strip for the contrasting points.  Background fabric required for a large lap is 1 yard.  If you are stashing busting the fabric or working with a jelly roll, you'll also need a 1/2 yard for the setting triangles -- you can chose that once the quilt top is underway when it will be easier to make decisions, too.  My scrappy border on the original quilt was made from layer cake leftovers but I won't be able to do that with this larger version.  I'm going to have to get creative about fabric selection since it's an older layer cake and I suspect yardage of any of the prints is long gone . . . but that's okay -- a challenge is good!!

4. Find a UFO in your stash to use as "sew-offs", leaders & enders, whatever you call them.  I use lots of them when machine piecing set-in seams and it's been a great way to finish long-stalled projects that I've grown tired of piecing!  I'll be returning to my version of this cover quilt -- I've only pieced 6 out of the 35 blocks needed for a lap size quilt.

5.  Finally, ask me questions!!  Leave them in the comments and I'll answer them so everyone can read them.  Remember what our teachers told us, there is no such thing as a dumb question!!

I'll be back next Wednesday, June 28 to get started!

Mary