I think you could do it either way....do all the ditching you can do, then stop and do the feathers, then advance the quilt, do the ditching, then the feathers, advance the quilt, etc. Or do all the ditching first than go back to the beginning and do your feathers, there are advantages and disadvantages to each method. Some of it depends on how long your machine neck is. Sometimes rolling a quilt backwards can create some problems with wrinkles ect. in any case, got to keep the sides straight as the feathers will likely pull the quilt in a bit. If you think of a white work quilt, you can see the feathers. I think most folks use a thicker batting with white work so you can see the feathers better.