How to Make a Dresden Plate - Using a Dresden Ruler and Cutting Blades

Today’s post is part of a series called How to Make a Dresden Plate. There are no measurements included in these posts, but those should be found in the pattern you are following.

Consider this a helpful visual and companion for any of my quilt patterns that feature Dresden plates. Sometimes you just need to see it to understand it.

To view all previous posts in this series, click here.

Today I’m showing you how to use a Dresden ruler and how to cut the pieces needed for a Dresden plate called blades. Before I show you how to cut blades, let me introduce you to the ruler.

In all the patterns I’ve written using Dresdens, this is my ruler of choice. It’s easy straightforward and no fuss. I’ve got a video tutorial for you today showing you the easiest method I’ve found to cut Dresden blades.

Get the ruler here.

Find the rest of the series here:

How to Cut Blades
Sewing + Pressing Blades into Points
Topstitching Plates
Adding Faces

In the video

I talk a lot about how the ruler works in the video. A few key things are this:

The ruler cuts blades any size up to 2×8″ and all sizes in between.
If you start cutting from the bottom of the ruler, you end up with a smaller face.
If you cut from the top of the ruler to any measurement other than the bottom, you end up with a larger face.
Cut the width of the fabric strip to be the height of the blades you want.

I also talk about how plates are made up with 20 blades using this ruler.

Then I show you how you should cut off your selvedge from your strip before you start, and then we alternate the position of the ruler with every cut we make down the length of the strip. The fabric I’m using in the strip is one that was cut from a fat quarter.