#carolyn friedlander

English paper pieced Dresden block: I’ve been wanting to make new pillow covers for a while, to replace the ones that I made about 5 years ago, which have been very well-used and worn. 

I figured I would take the opportunity of having more time at home to do some hand sewing - English paper piecing. I decided on Dresden blocks, using a pull of Carolyn Friedlander fabrics. I used free Dresden templates from Occasional Piece Quilts - I have used her templates before, for a bag I made several years ago. They work perfectly with 2.5″ x 5″ pieces of fabric - which is half a charm square (a great project if you have some charm squares around!) I just printed one sheet of templates, traced shapes onto thicker cardstock for piecing, and cut them out by hand.

I finished off the first patchwork section the other day, which I’ll appliqué to a solid colour background. I think I’ll leave the centre open, like a ring or wreath. I’ll start on a second one, so I have a pair of pillows. I may hand quilt these as well, or at least add some hand stitching around somewhere!