Billi

So a couple of weeks ago I was out crawling through some of my favorite antique stores looking for a treasure not looking for anything in particular just browsing for fun, I certainly was not looking for another project. But that is was decided it had to be mine. I found this awesome yet really awful set of hand sewn Dresden plates this picture shows about half of them.

Most of the fabrics seem to be from the late 60's to mid 70's in a variety of fabrics 100% cotton, cotton poly, double knit, yes double knit, what seems to be a rayon blend and possibly a silk or two. Theses plates are the ultimate of scrap quilts the one thing the all have in common is red or white centers and every block has at least a small amount of red in the blades all of theses also have blue but some of the ones not pictured do not.

I have created a history to theses really awful/awesome blocks. After looking at them closely I am convinced they are made by 2 different people they are all completely hand sewn some are almost perfect with small straight stitches perfect 1/4 inch seams and they lay flat with no folds or pleats. The others are kind of a hot mess large stitches sort of a 1/4 inch seam and more than a few of them have good sized pleats or folds and struggle to lay flat.

So the history I created for them is a Grandmother was teaching Granddaughter how to sew and in the true frugal way of her generation they used old clothes and the leftover scraps from all of the household sewing projects. Unfortunately before they finished Grandma was unable to continue with the lessons and so it has sat waiting to talk a passerby into finish a quilt. They found me :-)

So here I am planning to finish them but not by hand, I will use the blanket stitch on my machine to applique them down on to a pale(ish) tone on tone yellow floral that at least looks like it could have been from that era. It will then be machine quilted and put in my family room to be used on those cold nights curling up to watch a movie or read a book. I will use all of the plates they perfect and the imperfect folds bumps and pleats doing my best to make them all pretty because I think that is what Grandma would have done.

FYI have not found the fabric I am seeing in my head as the perfect base for them so I do welcome other suggestions

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lynnie

Billi, your plates are spectactular!!! Hhhmmmm what color to put them on???
great new avatar too.

PenniF

I think it's a WONDERFUL find...and your story is just great....but....i think it would be great if you could print it onto fabric and put it as a permanent label on the back of the quilt. I think it would be priceless with your story attached !!...and 100 years from now someone will smile when they find it at an antique store!!!

mom-6

I'm wondering if this was started as a bicentennial project in 1976 since the predominant look is patriotic?
There were so many patriotic projects that year. I was not a quilter at that time but I did a red, white and blue knitted afghan from a magazine pattern.

Tartan

I would pick a fabric that goes with the folk art feel of the imperfect Dresdens. Maybe a Chambray blue?

Jan in VA

Like you I also make up stories about the quilts I find and now own; love yours!
Thought of a yellow background before I finished reading your post; "great minds" think alike?

Jan in VA

Painiacs

That's great, I love it! Want to see it when done!!

DOTTYMO

Love your story and blocks. I think I would go cream.

kiffie2413

I also love your story. And the suggestion to jot it down on a label.
Please post a pic when you get it finished!
Kif

sewnseams

I like your story. I can see a muted blue of some sort.