I have been busy making and trying out new things during this cold snap of weather,looking at various blogs to find something new to stretch my mind.
I found this dresden plate design on The Henhouse blog under delicious dresden and I was hooked.
This is what I made first as a tryout, a cushion, with odds and ends of material, but also some lovely real 100% cotton patchwork pieces, bought for me at Christmas by my son and his wife.
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Dresden plate design cushion
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So this was my starting point, I found a downloadable template design herehttp://www.sewmamasew.com/store/media/blog/SMSDresdenTemplates.pdf and cut out all the pieces, ironing the blades of the pieces as they formed. Then they were sewn together into a circle and when that was done, appliqued by machine to the square of blue material I had chosen for my cushion. I then hand sewed the round centre onto it, and added four borders to complete the front of the cushion. The back was done with two pieces of material to form a sort of envelope style back, basically two pieces overlap each other and it was finished, et voila.
Still feeling full of enthusiasm I decided to have a go at a quilt, a quilt with a difference, I backed it with a fleece blanket for warmth.
This is it my quilt fully finished, the cost was 1£ and that was for the pink pillowcases from the charity shop that I cut to make the squares. The other material was from Pyjamas, old tops and some newer patchwork pieces that i also used for the cushion. Even the fleece was covering an old settee. Beauty that comes from doing something with what you have at hand gives me so much joy, so I will make another one for the winter again from what I can find or buy cheaply, after all patchwork was developed by women in short supply of material, who used what they had to create the patchwork for their homes. Many women and their families emigrated to America and were forbidden looms to make material by the British Government in case they outdid them in trade. The women cut scraps of their old clothes to make coverings for beds, then decided to make a design with the pieces. They gave their blocks names , such as flying geese, log cabin etc.
Such was the start of the patchworking that has become a favourite all over the world. have nothing in your home that you do not know to be either useful or beautiful said the victorian designer William Morris. I agree, sound words on which to end.
