Everybody, it’s Rob from Man Sewing.
And I am super excited about today’s tutorial.
Now I must admit, I was given one of those awesome die cutter systems from Sizzix.
So I got kind of hooked on dies for a little while.
So we’re going to be playing with some Dresden templates today.
But I’m actually going to show you how to make our Dresdens just using the Missouri
Star Quilt Company’s template.
This is the layer cake Dresden plate.
So we’re going to be using this to create our shapes.
And when our shapes are made we’re going to make this awesome pillow here.
And because you all saw my sneak peak and asked so nicely, I’m going to walk you through
this fantastic pillow, doubles as a hat.
What do you think?
And then someone had another great idea about making it into a neck roll.
I love that idea as well.
So you ready to get started?
Here we go.
So with that awesome Dresden template, what we’re going to use today is 20 wedges.
And 20 wedges will form one of these perfect circles.
Now we’re making a pillow so you know you’ve got to have one for the front side and one
for the other front side.
So we’re going to make 40 wedges using our template.
And what we’re using for today’s project is the Zen Chic line from Moda.
And I literally started with these 10 inch squares.
And the cool thing about the 10 inch square packs is I can cut three Dresdens per 10 inch
square.
So I am going to, real quickly, count off about four of these.
When I’m cutting layers of fabric, I don’t want to cut about more than about four at
a time because things can start to shift and get a little crazy.
I’m going to set my Dresden right here.
I’m going to find my rotary cutter which is hanging out in the Sew Mando vest.
And now with this here, if you have a lazy Susan at home, that would be the perfect time
to use it because I want to rotate this block.
So for me, I’m going to take and I’m going to slice just like this.
And without separating my fabric layers, I’m going to slip this out of my way so that I
can rotate this because I don’t have my lazy Susan handy.
Ok.
So I’m taking the time to make sure my edge, this edge over here is nice and straight.
And be careful when you’re cutting near the tip of that template, you don’t want
to nibble away at your blade because it will leave a dull spot.
Ok, so that’s the first side.
Now what we’re going to do is we’re going to move this over here and you can see that
I’m going to be able to get a third wedge right out of here.
So each ten inch square is actually going to yield for me three Dresden wedges.
Now I can also just spin the fabric.
That’s just another handy trick to know without moving my template at all.
Cut this line like this.
Now one of these edges will also work so I don’t have to cut two more sides, I only
have to cut one side at the end here.
Nice and slow because I want to keep all my fingers with me for the rest of the demonstration.
Oop, and I’m going to roll backwards through that one there.
Ok, so that’s super easy to do.
And in creating the pillows, you can obviously see, I chose the blue and green colorway for
my solid pillow.
And then I’ve got my pinks and my oranges for my, we’ll call it the flower pillow.
I don’t even know what to call that thing yet but we’re certainly having a lot of
fun with it.
So I’m going to do this until I have at least 40 pieces of fabric in my color set
ups.
And with that, the next step, all you really have to do is start to lay out your pieces.
Oh and before I move on from my Dresden though, I want to show you, like I used the regular
die.
It is exactly the same shape.
So if you have the manual or the automated systems, enjoy using those Dresdens that way.
Ok.
Now back to the fabric choices right?
I have already organized these in order.
As I start to lay out my 20, what I was looking for was making sure that I don’t have the
same colors touching twice.
So I started to work myself around in a circle, just laying out my pieces.
And like I said, I’ve already organized these for us.
But you can see a nice color variation starting here as I go through.
And then once I have them all laid out I went back in and packed them onto my pile like
this.
And then the trick is, at the end, this one is going to go like this on the pile and then
I can start sewing these right sides together.
We’re just going to use a quarter inch seam allowance.
So when I come off of here only the thing that’s going through my brain, literally
the only thing that’s going through my brain right now, is the gray goes to the green so
that my color order stays the same.
So I’m going to come over to my seam allowance here.
It should be set up for a quarter inch.
Now as I’m working through this I am literally going to sew 19 wedges all together.
Ok, like I said, I have stitched 19 of the seams together.
And I have one last seam that I want to put together.
But it’s easiest to iron all of my seams in one direction before I make that last series
of stitches.
So what I do now is I take my whole donut and I take my iron and I’m actually holding
the donut in the air.
And I’m kind of setting my seams hoping that they all go in the right direction or
the same direction.
I don’t know if there is a right direction.
Normally I would choose my seam to go to the darker fabric but this is easiest just to
go all the way around your circle.
So I’m just going to keep going around like that, ok?
Now back to right sides together.
Back to lining up my wide edges and we’re just going to stitch this for the last seam
here.
This is a very, very easy to construct project.
You know with that template there are multiple size wedges you can make.
So you can make these a lot smaller if you wanted to.
That’s a lot of fun as well.
I have that last seam I want to press.
So we’re going to hit that for the last time.
Now we need to create our filler, right?
We need to cover up this hole.
Some of you will do it with fusible.
I found it was easiest to create for myself basically a circle and what I did is I used
the same fabric and I’m going to use the same fabric on both sides.
So watch this trick, ready?
Take your circles.
We’re going to do this twice.
And you’re going to basically lay them print sides together.
Did I do that correctly?
No I didn’t, oops.
Print sides together just like that.
And then you just sew as you can see here all the way around the edge.
Then you’re going to take a seam ripper.
Some of you recognize this, thank you again, I love my gift.
Now we are armed and dangerous.
Now for this I’m going to separate the two layers.
I’m going to poke in here with my seam ripper and cut.
You could, of course, do this with your little scissors.
And I don’t want to make much of a hole, just enough that I can start wiggle and get
the right sides to come back out.
Like you see here.
Fantastic use of the opposable thumbs.
I love it.
Now the other trick, though, you need to put something up in here, whether it be the top
of your seam ripper or something and encourage your circular seams and that seam allowance
to go all the way to the edge of our circles.
I did not nip my seam allowance.
I guess you could have.
I don’t know that it would have helped all that much and it certainly wouldn’t have
saved me anytime.
I’m going to press this down.
So what I do is I lay this and make sure you don’t leave it with your ripped edge up,
right?
This is going to be our topside.
So when you have that like that then I’m just going to grab myself a few straight pins
and get under here and pin.
And then on the other side I’m going to pin again, ok?
And then I’m just going to come back here to the machine and I’m going to topstitch
around that edge.
So let me show you that, real easy.
I still actually have the machine set for the quarter inch seam allowance.
But I’m just going to eyeball the edge of the circle.
And I’m going to stitch nice and slow around.
If you have a needle down function on your machine, this would be a great time to use
it.
Oop, and I just turned mine off.
So there’s that.
Sneak that pin out and keep on stitching.
And of course, you’re going to do this for two sides so when we’re all done we’re
going to have two completed 20 wedge Dresdens with a topstitched circle center.
This won’t take me but a second to finish off for us here.
Ok, I just finished, did a little backstitch.
Don’t want to do too much because it’s going to show here, all your threadwork is
going to show a little bit.
Now you have completed one side.
And when you weren’t looking, I completed the other side.
So we are now going into standard construction format.
And we’re just going to drop these right sides together again.
I’m going to take a moment and look around my fabric and kind of make sure that I don’t
have the exact same fabrics touching.
It’s just one of those things, I wanted it to look scrappy.
Of course you could certainly, look at this, I mean, you could have laid them out exactly
to make every fabric touch, which would be another fantastic look.
But I was just trying to get away from that.
So I’m going to kind of rotate it until it looks like I have a fairly decent set of
opposite kind of fabrics.
I’m even looking at the shades of the grays and the turquoises and the greens in there.
Ok, now what we’re going to do for the end of this is we’re going to start by anchoring
a stitch here.
We’re going all the way around.
And we’re going to stop one entire wedge back this way.
That will give you a lot of room to be able to pack this with your stuffing, your polyfil
stuffing.
If you’ve got one of those stuffing tools, you can come all the way to this edge right
here.
It will be a little bit more difficult to get the stuffing in but you’ll have less
stitching to do at the end.
So maybe I’ll show you that as well.
Ok, we are back to a quarter inch seam allowance.
I’m backstitching like I promised.
And now I’m just watching the edges as I go around.
So as I said, I’ve already backstitched both sides but I’ve only left one of my
wedges open on this particular one because I wanted to show you how you can go ahead
and turn it right sides out even with a nice small opening.
So my first trick is I’m going to start to poke the fabric that’s closest to the
opening through the opening first.
And then I’m going to be able to start to pull from the inside back out.
So due to the nature of this video, I want to show you how to make the pillow that’s
behind me as well so I’m not going to take the time to stuff this pillow.
I will mention that I always like to, let me get myself found here, I always like to
press my edges whether I’m going to topstitch them or not.
Now for this pillow and the nature of the stuffing, right?
It’s going to get so thick so even if I press and was thinking about trying to topstitch
my opening closed, it’s so thick that I’m going to really have to just go ahead and
handstitch it.
And I apologize, I know a lot of you consider handstitching a four letter word but it’s
going to be the easiest way to finish this.
Let me show you.
So hopefully you can’t see, but just right there, that’s where I was handstitching
with my hand needle and my hand thread the entire time, ok?
So now are you ready to move on and see that cool pink pillow behind me?
I’m jazzed to show you this trick.
So with this really cool little donut pillow, or I tell you what while you are sending in
your fantastic feedback, would you please name my pillow for me.
This thing needs a great creative name.
And the only thing that was in my brain for this shoot was the gray and the green fabric
go together so obviously the name is not in there yet.
So we need the name from all of you.
Drop that in the comments below, please.
Thank you very much.
But construction is the same.
We have 20 of the Dresden wedges all the way across.
But we have to create our Dresdens a little bit differently.
So the easiest way to do this, again you take your standard wedge regardless of what size
you’ve made it.
And you’re going to go ahead and fold it right sides together.
If you want to know where dead center is so that you can align your tips later on, you
could come over and press this.
But it may leave a crease later on that you’re going to have to press back out.
The reason that we’re folding this in half, is we are going to actually stitch right across
both edges, the wide side and the narrow side, with a quarter inch seam allowance.
And what this does is it’s going to allow us to turn that little point.
So I’m going to stitch across here and then with no wasted time I’m just going to flip
it and stitch it.
And I did this to all 40 of my wedges while seated.
And then I got up and went over to my ironing surface and I began to turn them.
So I’m sticking my thumb up inside and I am pushing that tip back out.
Now the big edge is pretty crucial that it looks nice and sharp so that’s why that
crease is there.
So I can line it back up with my crease.
Let me bring it to the camera a little bit better so you can see that.
Ok so that’s how that crease helped me line up that.
The small edges are just problematic no matter how you slice it because there’s such a
few little bit of stitching in there.
So it just forms a little bit of a wedge.
And those will not be covered up on our donut pillow so you do want to take the time and
the care to make them look as nice as you can.
So when you’re done you have these wedges that look like that from the back side and
they’re going to look basically like this from the top side.
Like I said, you need all 40 of them done that way.
And then you’re going to go back in and lay out your fabric choices.
And for this I want you to really take the time to do your best to line up both your
points.
Oop, this one keep popping out on me, there you go.
So both of those points there.
Now 20 for one side, 20 for the other all stitched together.
But here’s the next series of tricks I found out.
I stood there for quite a while trying to figure out how am I going to be able to machine
stitch all of this, turn it right sides out and machine stitch the outside edge.
And that really, really wasn’t going to work.
So the nice thing about having these finished edges is I am literally going to, by sewing
machine, topstitch all of these so I had the right sides of the fabric both on the outsides.
So when I went around the center, I was topstitching by machine and if that’s uncomfortable,
hey, just take out that hand needle and your hand thread and just hand stitch that.
It will work no problem, ok?
Now for the outer edges, it was much easier.
The outer edges I left two openings.
I went around and topstitched all of those edges.
Again, very nice and easy, right?
And then I was able to go ahead and stuff leaving the two openings.
And at the end, I was able to finish the stitching by machine because there’s not much stuffing
down in these little points.
And those little points made it really easy to feed into the sewing machine that way.
So this one actually had a little bit easier finish construction by machine where this
one you’ve got to do a little bit of hand work at the end.
And I’m sorry for the offensive language I’ve had to use today but sometimes we just
have to do that while we’re doing our arts and our crafts.
So here are my two awesome Dresden template based pillows for you.
We are so glad you were here with us today at Man Sewing.