How to make a Dresden bag, part1

I'm going to start this post with a disclaimer. I'm not a professional and I may make some mistakes and then pass them on to you. Forgive me please.
So I was told that I should give a tutorial on how I made my Dresden bags. So here it is. I hope I give you enough information and I don't leave out any steps. If you have any questions, please ask. It is all very confusing, specially to load the pictures onto blogger, as you have to add them backwards.
So here we go.
Your first step is to find fabrics to use. In this bag I used 7 different fabrics. Cut each fabric into a 2 1/2" strip. Each fan will be made of a 2 1/2 X 5 1/2 piece. Now I used a 18 degree fan ruler to make each piece fan shape. Save all your scraps, you may be able to use them for the centers.

So that they look like this.

Then take each fan shape to the sewing machine and make a point, by folding right side together and sewing straight across the top.

Turn them right side out and press. They should look like this.

Then I take 2 fans and sew them together, and so on and so forth. To start building the complete fan. Finger press open each seam, than iron.

After all the fan units are sew together (I used 11), repeat for the other side. You should have 2 sides, each with 11 fan units. (Please ignore my very stained ironing board)

Next you'll want to cover each of the holes in your plate. So I found a candlestick that was the perfect size. You can use anything, just make that half circle piece for the centers.

Next applique, or machine sew it down. You could probably even leave it raw edge and it would still be nice. Your choice, I just hand applique everything.

And when you are done, you should have 2 of these completed fan shapes.

I'll have more later, I've got to go to the last Opp.quilt get together. Really I mean it. I'm not leaving till it's done. So good luck with the bag...

Take care, Brandie