Silvia75

I have been free motion quilting for about 8 years but have been scared to try feathers. They look so beautiful but complicated. i have some quilting books that generally go over feathers but don't give much guidance on actual design and stitching them continuously on a DM. Can anyone suggest a book or class that helped them learn confidence with feathers?
thanks for all your great advice!

tessagin

Try some regular or color chalk and just do a little at a time on a practice piece. Then if you don't like it use a piece of felt and erase it.

Tartan

If you can watch YouTube, there are many feather tutorials there. I generally just mark the spine and then decide on what type of feathers I want to do. I tend to do the feathers that do not have to be backtracked as I am not very good at that. Angela Walters has some fun feather variations on YouTube and although she uses a long arm the concept is the same. You might also go over to Amy's site as she does her quilting on a regular sewing machine at www.freemotionquiltingadventures.blogspot.com/

Dolphyngyrl

Honestly I was in your boat but have found feathers actually easier than many other motifs and it doesn't necessarily take much practice for them to look nice. I suggest taking a class with patsy thompson. I took a live class with her and also have here craftsy class and my feathers look great

dunster

Some of Angela Walters' classes on Craftsy are done on a DSM. The main thing is to practice drawing the feathers, then practice stitching them. I find that while the drawings may not look that good, the stitched ones look much better.

grammysharon

Take one of the Craftsy classes. They really make it easy to learn!!!

feline fanatic

Hooked on feathers

http://www.amazon.com/Hooked-Feather...ed+on+feathers

From there, you will gain the confidence to do more traditional style feathers.

bjchad

Feathers are a lot of fun. There are several ways to create them so be sure to look at as many sources as possible. You may find one way suits you better than another. I have a small child's white board, one with lines for learning to write on one side and a plain board on the other. Any new FMQ design I learn I spend some time practicing on the white board until I feel I have it pretty ingrained. The lines help if I am trying to keep something consistent in size. That could work for you to practice feathers. I believe there is a craftsy class specifically about feathers. Leah Day may also have some info about feathers on her site.

ManiacQuilter2

I have heard that the Craftsy classes are good. You just have to learn to do a curve smoothly and remember NEVER STOP ON A CURVE.

alleyoop1

Get some scrap material and some Crayola Washable Markers and draw out some feathers - print some from online and trace them if you need - and practice stitching them. You can go over and over them until you get the feel. Then try it without a printed guide, but keep a picture of them close so you can watch it as you stitch. Practice makes perfect! Or so they tell me.