Earlier this week, we got to welcome the ever-inspiring Susan Ache back to the blog for a very special guest post! Wednesday marked the unofficial kickoff of something extra special— the Dresden Summer Stitch Along— a brand new series designed in collaboration with Susan and our friends at Moda Fabrics.
This summer series features 12 charming Dresden Plate blocks, each adorned with a beautifully embroidered circle center. It’s a joyful celebration of two of Susan’s favorite techniques (and two of her favorite quilty brands💛). We are absolutely thrilled to help bring this vision to life and are here today with all the exciting details!
Today marks Week 1 of the Stitch Along and the official release of: Dresden Summer Stitch Along Quilt Pattern AND the Week 1 Embroidery Design. For easy access to both, simply click on the buttons below!
To help you pace your progress, we’ll release two new embroidery designs every two weeks. This gives you plenty of time to piece your blocks, add the hand-stitched center, and share your work with the community.
Schedule:
- June 18 — Preview
- June 20 — Week 1 (YOU ARE HERE)
- July 4 — Week 2
- July 18 — Week 3
- August 1 — Week 4
- August 15 — Week 5
- August 29 — Week 6
- September 22 — Finishing & Wrap-Up
We’d love to follow along on your Dresden Summer journey! Share your blocks, stitches, and works-in-progress with us by tagging @yardgrl60, @aurifilthread, and @modafabrics. We’ll be cheering you on every step of the way! Now without further pause, we’re handing you back over to Susan!
Can you even believe it’s the first day of summer already? I am a summer person— always have been— but if I am totally honest, I am now more of watching-summer-in-the-comfort-of-my-air-conditioned-house person. Doesn’t it seem like summer days are hotter than we remember? And hi… it’s Susan Ache again (@yardgrl60 on Instagram). That’s me!
Today is our first day of our summer fun stitch project that Aurifil, Moda Fabrics, and I put together. Today, we’re gifting you with the full quilt pattern AND your first embroidery download. I told you all about the project a few days ago and now we’re here and it’s time for some fun. All in all, we have 12 embroidery centers for your Dresden plate blocks, two new ones to keep you company every 2 weeks until the last day of Summer, September 22. The reason we decided to give you the full quilt pattern straight away is so that it will give you a chance to decide what colors of floss you’d like to stitch with while seeing the entire project… and if you are like me, you’ll grab your scraps and start cutting out your Dresden fans to get everything fully prepped and ready!
I have done many talks (and posts here on the Aurifil blog) in the past about my personal preferences for stitching. For me, I like to stitch with 2 strands of floss, a lovely linen fabric, a sharp needle, a light just a shade brighter than the full blare of the sun, a great show to binge, and, even though you’ll see a hoop in these images, I’m typically a no-hoop gal. With all that said, my best advice is to make your own choices, keep it simple, and just enjoy every single stitch.
Oh— before I forget to tell you, there is a bit of extra yardage added on as the background. I don’t know how you want to stitch your centers and we added it so that you can actually cut out 7” squares for stitching in a 6” hoop if that is the way you want to do it. Me? I actually traced out grids on one full piece of fabric and stitched mine all at once. Even though you are going to be working on 2 every two weeks, it could still be an easy way to see yourself through. For me, it just felt like the best/easiest choice. During the prep, I just gave myself enough room around each pattern to cut and complete the final center Dresden.
A tip? When I did the grid and traced each pattern, I also traced the circle in pencil. That is the true finished size for your Dresden center. I didn’t add a seam allowance— that is just the finished size. You can decide how you want to finish your circle yourself. Of course you want to know how I finished it, right? I use a lightweight interfacing method and turn so that it’s finished without raw edges and I’m not having to do needle turn appliqué. But for you? If you want a raw edge, go for it. If you want to add a seam allowance and do the needleturn, you do you. I machine stitch everything so I just wanted a pretty edge that I could stitch in place. It is truly your game to decide.
So, make sure you have paper loaded in your printer and start your summer with some fun! See you in 2 weeks for the next piece of your puzzle! Thanks for stitching along with us!
Whether you’re a longtime fan of Dresden blocks or trying your hand at embroidery for the first time, this is a project designed for joy, exploration, and a whole lot of summer stitching fun. We can’t wait to see your take on these joyful blocks. Happy stitching, and stay tuned for Week 2 on July 4!
I would love to participate but I do not want to sign up for yet another account, Dropbox. Is there another way to get the patterns?
To the left of the Dropbox button (bottom right) there should be a down facing arrow with an underscore. Click this and it will directly download the pattern to your phone/tablet/computer. 🙂
I have printed the pattern both at Actual Size and at Custom 100%, and neither end up with the 1″ block (for gauge) being 1″. Do you have any additional suggestions for me to get the wedge and circle pieces the right size for the pattern? Thanks in advance!
I had the same problem and tried to increase the size and the size didn’t change. So, what I did was use the size that was printed and put the copy on my copier and increased the size on the copier setting to 104% and it turned out perfect. Hope this will help you!
Can’t figure out where to find the embroidery pattern for week 2 of the Dresden summer stitch along.
Where is week 2?
I have week 1, thank you. Now, how do I continue to get the additional weeks? I only want to download a copy each week, I don’t want to do Dropbox.