EZ Dresden Challenge Tutorial and Giveaway!

The giveaway is now closed.

Welcome to my little corner of blogland!  My name is Barbie, and I'm really excited to share a tutorial with you today using Darlene Zimmerman's EZ Dresden Ruler.  In honor of Darlene's 20th anniversary designing rulers for EZ Quilting and Simplicity, the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild is hosting the EZ Dresden Challenge this summer.  There are three categories: traditional (min. side length 50"), innovative (min. side length 50"), and mini (max. side length 24").  Full contest details can be found here.  Each category will have big prizes too, thanks to these great sponsors.  Be sure to come back to http://slmqg.com/ September 1-6 to link up your projects and enter to win!

When I was asked to participate in this blog hop I was intrigued by the "innovative" category, and became determined to come up with something non-circular, but also not just sewing the wedges into a straight line.  I also love strip-piecing and the complex look that you can get when you use it, so I came up with what I call the "Dresden Wave."
Warning: get ready for picture overload.  I taught junior high FACS (home ec.) for six years and I'm used to giving lots of detail with every step.  Here goes.

Start with various sets of strips sewn together into 8" wide units.  I chose to use strips at least 2" wide on the edges because some of them will get trimmed off, but you don't have to do this.  I'm using Joel Dewberry's Heirloom line in the Sapphire colorway.  From each strip set you can get three blocks.  It was nice using the same line of fabric to sew my strips because they were all the same length!  It made it easy to match up the ends and avoid having a curved strip set by the time I was done.  I recommend pressing seams open for this particular method.  I've always been a "press to the dark" girl, but in this case, it really distributed the bulk well.

Next, using the ruler, trim off one edge and then cut a wedge. 

Next we will be cutting a parallelogram.  I cut mine 2 1/2 inches wide.  Line up the 2 1/2" line of your regular ruler with the cut edge of your fabric, and use the EZ Dresden Ruler to make sure you still have the correct angle.  Cheat a tiny bit if you have to, but you want the angle pretty accurate.

Then continue cutting.  You will need one dresden wedge pointing each direction (one up, one down), two parallelograms leaning one direction, and one parallelogram leaning the other direction.  The shape of your wave will be determined by which direction your extra parallelogram leans, so you can do some blocks of each kind.  I did.

The reason I decided to use parallelograms is illustrated in this picture.  If you put an "up" wedge next to a "down" wedge and sew them together, the strips would go straight across the seam and it would just be sewn into a parallelogram anyway.  Save a step!  Cut a parallelogram!

Here's the fun part.  Rearrange your pieces and you get a wavy pattern!  I just love this.  So fun. 

To get them in the right order, first push them into wedge/parallelogram pairs, with the extra parallelogram in the middle.

Move the extra parallelogram out of the way.

Move the parallelograms to the other side of the wedges they are paired with.  You should see some motion here.

Put your extra parallelogram on the end.

Push together.  Voila!

If you put your other parallelogram on the side and it isn't making a wave like this on the right,

try switching the order of the pairs.  It should fix it.  I had to stare at one of these for a couple of minutes before I got it to work!

Next turn the pairs right sides together and pin, matching up the seams.  If you've pressed your seams open, this is where you'll be glad you did.

I went a little overboard and pinned at each seam, but you don't have to.

When you sew these babies, it is best to sew from the fat side of the wedge toward the narrow side.  This helps maintain the grain and keep it from stretching out of shape.

Here's why, for anyone who might care.  If you look closely at the cut edge of the fabric you can see little bits poking out.  You want to sew in the direction that would smooth them out, not rough them up.  Think petting a cat--they don't like it if you do it backwards.  Now, if you do it the other way, the grainline police aren't going to come get you, this is just Dr. Burnham from my clothing construction classes in college coming through.

Once you've sewn these press your seams open again.

Continue sewing your pieces together until you have a completed wave, pressing seams open as you go.

Now to trim them into rectangles.  I found that if I lined up my ruler so it matched with a line on my mat as well as a seam going across one of the wedges I was able to get the largest block possible. 

Sorry this is a different block.  Oops.  Trim as little off the top and bottom as possible, making sure to use the lines on your mat as a guide.  Mine ended up 7 1/4" tall.

Next trim the sides.

Mine were 8 3/4" wide.

I decided I liked this layout the best with four blocks.

I added 1" wide strips to the outsides to give me a half inch white border on each block.  I used a white-on-white print.  Then, to make them into squares, I added 2" wide strips to just one side of each block.

Sewed together, then added 2" borders.



 I quilted it with an allover paisley pattern.

Here it is all done and bound!  

I love how this turned out!  I can't wait to hang it on the wall in my studio.  Even though I wouldn't change this quilt, if I was going to make another one, I would choose a less busy background to let the blocks stand out a little more.  I still love it anyway.

I hope you liked this stop of the blog hop!  I had a lot of fun designing and making this quilt.  I'd love to hear if you make something using this idea!  And now for the giveaway... Along with the EZ Dresden ruler, I'm giving away a fat quarter of Joel Dewberry's Blockprint Blossom in Amethyst from the Heirloom line, and a package of my fav quilting needles, Superior Threads Titanium Coated Topstitch Needles, size 90/14.  These will fit a domestic machine.  To enter just leave a comment giving me your best advice on how to get anything done when you have a lovable but needy one-year-old around.  If you don't have any good advice, that's okay.  Just leave a comment.  I'll announce a winner sometime Saturday morning, June 16th, Mountain time.

The giveaway is now closed.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Be sure to check out the other great bloggers who are participating.  Here are the links:
June 1  Salt Lake MQG: Kick Off www.slmqg.com/
June 2  Lee: freshlypieced.blogspot.com/
June 3  Kati www.fromthebluechair.com/
June 4  Victoria: bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/ and Tanya: www.squaresandtriangles.com
June 5 Val: howaboutpinkplease.blogspot.com/ and Leigh: leedledeedlequilts.blogspot.com/
June 6  Amy: amyscreativeside.com/ and Elisa www.stitchoutsidetheditch.com/
June 7  Katie: www.swimbikequilt.com/ and Emily: emsscrapbag.blogspot.com/
June 8  Melissa: happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com/  and Brooke: pitterputterstitch.blogspot.com/
June 9  Nicole: mamalovequilts.blogspot.com/ and Amy sukie.mt-wudan.com/
June 10  Elizabeth: www.dontcallmebetsy.com/ and Colleen: www.thebusybean.com/
June 11  Faith: www.freshlemonsquilts.com/ and Deonn: quiltscapesquilting.blogspot.com/
June 12 Angela: angelaflicker.com/ and Barbie: thequiltingmill.blogspot.com
June 13  Amy: www.diaryofaquilter.com/
June 14  Jessica: sewcraftyjess.blogspot.com/
June 15  Salt Lake MQG: Wrap-up www.slmqg.com/

If you happen to be looking for Heirloom fabric, I found mine in this etsy shop.  She has a great selection of beautiful fabrics and was pleasant to work with!  You can also check out some great finishes from this week at {Sew} Modern Monday.