Wow, I thought it was just me who disliked feathers. I like my quilts to be soft and cuddly and bendable. I always ask my quilters to do LIGHT quilting.

I agree not only on the feathers but overdoing the quilting.

Less is more on the feather issue. I too use feathers in my FMQ however some of the quilts don't require the amount of feathers. Let the beauty of the quilt pattern and the work of the piece work come through. I also found over quilting makes the quilt stiff.

I have had only one quilt done on a long arm and the lady gave me so many choices as to what I could have on it. She was fantastic, she listened to what I had to say about what I liked and didn't like and what the quilt meant to me.It was a special quilt done by many friends and two of them are no longer with us she then helped me pick out the final one from the designs I had chosen. She had samples of at least 75 or more designs done not just templates or pictures. I too despise stippleing and over done any design, it takes away from the cuddle of a quilt.

Just my opinon, I still like hand quiting best but knew this quilt would never get done as it was for me and I never find the time to do it.

I absolutely LOVE feathers! They are so graceful and so eye catching. However, what I really don't like is how densely some quilts are quilted. It definitely takes away from the beauty of the actual quilt, sometimes to the point that the design of the pieced quilt almost disappears! I think the quilt pattern and the quilting should be like a marriage - complimentary, and not in competition.

One thing I can tell you is that when someone places their hard work and creativity in my hands to quilt, I feel a great sense of responsibility to do my very best as do other LA quilters. We do our best for that person and that quilt. Everyone's likes and dislikes are different but if that quilt makes them happy, I'm happy even if it's not what I would have preferred to put on it. We may get a little carried away in our effort to please but tell me one quilter who doesn't get carried away-it's an addiction , you know. LOL

Whew... took some time to read all these comments.

I'm a LAQ, what my quilt maker wants they get. If they don't have an idea, I tell them to look at my website of facebook to see some pics. Asking them what will the quilt be used for. Utility quilts are something that don't need expensive quilting.

My logo~ Adding to the Beauty of what You already Created.

I enjoy feathers and most people who have googled and found me did so looking for a specific type of quilting. I have had people Google Cashton Amish Quilts and called me and thought I was Amish!

Enjoy!

Sometimes the quilting is just overdone (even if it's not feathers). I don't like when the quilting overtakes the piecing.

Machine quilting certainly is beautiful, but too many quilters want their quilting to show off more than the piecing. UGH.

Im not taking it personally at all. I am saying quilt how you want to quilt but dont put down other quilters because they like something you dont. Ive seen alot of comments about how stiff some quilts are when they are densely quilted...that is NOT always the case. If you use a low loft batting and like dense quilting, sure..its doing to be a little stiff, but if you use a high loft that is not alway the case. So, like I said quilt the way you want, quilt how you like it. I dont thing quilting detracts from one's piecing at all, but rather enhances it; most of the time :) HAPPY QUILTING!!!

I tend to agree with the "less is more" idea. I just saw a beautiful bargello quilt and it was so over quilted that it was difficult to see the shading and piecing. I appreciate the different quilt designs and the abilities of LAQ but IMHO the very detailed quilting show off better in a whole cloth piece.

Suebee I agree.

The batting choice is a big contibutor here. I love a dense quilted quilt with Cotton batting it is so soft.

When we use a poly batting (it is to hot I have to say first off) but it give a totally different feel.

I like soft and cuddly quilts, some that I see look like they are stiff from so much quilting. Some of the quilting on quilts here are amazing!! But all you see is the quilting.Some people like it that way.
Sooooo as Sadiemae said "Whatever floats your boat! Do what makes you happy!"

I love feathers and don't think they are ever too many or to dense to suit me. I always tell my quilter, that I love them, but they can be the final decision, since they know more about the process than me. I tend to prefer close quilting.

Whats the point then? A one-sided conversation??? that doesnt make any sense at all. If you are going to post a thread..you are automatically asking for comments. Some like them, some dont...but your right if you DONT like someone's work, why would you find it necessary to say you dont? That is just wrong.

I agree, sometimes the quilting is so dense that it takes away from the design of the top and all you really see is the quilting. I prefer just enough quilting to keep the batting from shifting, that way the quilt top design is what you see .

I was just up covering a quilt with feathers and think I may have found the problem of why feathers can take over.

My feathers are blending in. I am using a fine thread and I am and usually use a thread that blends well. I normally pick the thread even on other people's quilts. But I choose a thread that blends so that anything I quilt on their wonderful tops will enhances their quilt but does not take over and is not the first thing you see. You have to get close to most of my quilts to see the quilting, even my own where I can go outrageous. It is like a secondary design not the main thing.

I have had people specify thread in bright contrasting colors and I warn them it is going to show. If you pay the extra money for feathers you want them to enhance but not take over usually.

The opposite problem I have encountered was a beautiful top in a quilt show, gorgeous colors, beautiful piecing, with the large background pieces meandered. I was so sadden that this gorgeous wonderfully done quilt did not have feathers that gave beauty and specialness to that area. But of course I wanted them to lurk in the background and only be seen when you were close to the quilt.

I hope you will look at the quilts where you do not like feathers and find out why they are taking over the patchwork. Then work with your longarmer to avoid that. It is as simple as telling her to make sure the quilting does not overpower the patchwork you have done.

Ditto

I have not read this entire thread, so if I add more of the same, I apologize up front.

I am so conflicted when it comes to this quilting issue. I love the look of professionally done quilts, but I agree that way too many of them are over done with the feathers (square, round, borders etc) and I think they detract from the beauty of the quilt which they should have enhanced.

On the other hand, I also think that the overdone quilting can make a less than professionally pieced quilt look spectacular and the novice looking at the quilt will not see the piecing but the quilting.

Most times I think that the quilter is outshining the piecer and that shouldn't be the case unless you are both and that is the way you want it.

Perfectly said Tisha! I love feathers and have seen so many gorgeous quilts on our site covered in feathers. To each their own. The world would be a very dull place if we all liked the same thing!

We are designing with machines which can quilt the life out of a quilt top or make it more beautiful. Gaudinski and Hargraves have done stunningly beautiful machine quilting which enhance bedding as well as art.

I think that most people in this posting have remarked on heavy quilting rather than the feather pattern in particular. What technical choices can we make in quilting which increase the enhancement?

I saw a couple posts about choice of batting and threads. How about more thought on how to choose an appropriate design? We can't just stop this discussion at 'personal choice'. There must be some design principle informing the choices. When an LAQ posts a completed quilt it is always interesting to learn what choices were made and why. Maybe someone can round this up into a sensible guidepost.

My own thought is that when you have to fill a border, feathers are probably an easy way to fill in all the space as you cruise down the fabric lane, resulting in a soft and gentle looking pattern which conforms to the border shape so defines it. Same for filling triangles. Since I never filled anything with a curved shape in my quilting life I have no clue and that is a wild guess. What do you quilting pros think?

Jumping in a little late, but I have to speak up also.

Another "I agree". Why are we paying big bucks for beautiful fabric, spending agonizing hours choosing it, planning placement meticulously.... only to see it over quilted and the beauty taken away. To each his/her own and for those who like it, good for them. I prefer to see the beauty of the fabric and the pattern used to make the quilt.

Thanks for saying what I've been thinking for some time now.

I agree too, sometimes it takes away from the pattern or makes it too busy.

I still prefer the "old-fashion" quilting like my mom did. I don't think she knew what "feathers" were. The beauty was in her quilting.

No it is not you. I like a more spartan look. Too much makes the quilt look hard and not soft and cuddly. You know....quilty. :|

Same here!

:thumbup: :thumbup:

Ditto.

I'm not a pro and perhaps we should start a new thread about 'reading' a top but I just wanted to add my thoughts to this. (Sorry to edit you, BTW, hope you don't mind!) In an ideal world, the quilting pattern will be designed at the piecing stage, particularly in an original design. It shouldn't be an 'afterthought', it shouldn't detract from the piecing it should enhance it, whatever it is. Also, how I plan to quilt can affect how I piece, for eg how I press my seams. I may even piece a top a certain way to specifically fit a quilting pattern I want to try. Quilting and piecing are the two elements that create a quilt, art or bed and are of equal importance. Someone posted earlier that quilting is to bind the 3 layers together - the earliest quilt in 'captivity' (the Tristan Quilt, 1300s) is a decorated wholecloth so this is not true - quilting was always a decorative element in it's own right - and feathers are NOT new! I've been googling some to find a timeline but not been successful. I'll persist however and share if I find more about their history.

Anyway, about 'reading' a quilt top - I wanted to recommend this book - Machine Quilting Solutions by Christine Maraccini. Using several quilt patterns as examples she shows 3 different ways to quilt them - light, medium and heavy. It is an excellent book for teaching how to look at a quilt in terms of designing complementary quilting and also in how different densities of quilting decorate the tops.

And a final word (for now!) and I'm sorry, I'm going to shout - DENSE QUILTING DOES NOT MAKE A QUILT STIFF IF DONE CORRECTLY AND USING THE RIGHT BATTING. If you don't like it, fair enough.

:? :lol:

I guess that is why I hand quilt it still looks and feels soft and cuddly and for me that is my goal soft and cuddly to be used and loved to death (falling apart) as it were :)

I absolutely agree. I think sometimes quilters get completely carried away with their quilting to the extent that the actual quilt design is lost. Plus, all of that quilting makes the quilt stiff and it does not drape the way we would like. I am all for less quilting - I spend too much time putting my quilts together and would not want the desgn lost in the "qulting"

Hear, hear! I absolutely think that feathers are overdone, and soooooooo many quilts' piecing designs are "muffled" by horribly dense overquilting. I think a lot of longarm quilters simply get into a "zone" and fill the space with their skills rather than back off a bit and ENHANCE the piecing.

A quilt is just as much about the color placement through piecing as it is the quilting process, but the trend has been to overdo feathers and overquilt projects. I am hoping it will pass.

I think this is just one of those you say tomato, I say to-mah-toe kind of things. The quilting in a quilt comes down to personal preference really and it's impossible to please everyone. I enjoy seeing quilts that have been quilted within an inch of their life as much as quilts with stitch in the ditch or stippling. As for feathers...they are popular right now and that is ok. ;) In a few years something else will be all the rage and we will eventually get sick of that too. ;) Lol*

Oh - and by the way, feathers aren't just for longarmers! I am a big fan of feathers and sew them on my teensy economical Simplicity Quilter's Classic.

I have to admit I am surprised how much time is spent worrying about how other people quilt or have their quilts quilted. I control my mouse, and if I open a picture and don't care for the quilting, I can quickly go on to the next topic. No biggy to me...

Feathers are not new!!! Ppl have been handquilting feathers for centuries - the earliest I found so far is pre-1799, no pics available but the description says quilted with feather motifs - http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=47-7B-C1B
Why does everyone insist that they're a 'new' fad? :shock:

Women were MACHINE quilting feathers in the mid-1800s http://www.womenfolk.com/quilt_notes/12604.html

I agree. It seems they are used to excess by some LA quilters - on every quilt they do. And some are quilted to "death".

I agree that feathers can be overused as a quilting design. I think one reason may be that many quilters "love feathers." Another reason is thatdensely feathered quilting quite often is rewarded with ribbons at quilt shows.

If a quiltmaker tells a longarmer, "Do whatever you want"-- quite often she will get feathers because they are a natural go-to pattern for many longarmers.

I tend to do feathers only on very traditional quilts with lots of open spaces, or on very girly quilts, and only then after a detailed discussion with the quiltmaker.

I don't decide on her quilt design or her thread color on my own. These decisions are made in a consultation where we are working in collaboration. It's a process that I find works best for me and my clients. No surprises.

I agree. Sometimes it is hard to make out the
quilt pattern.

That's a lot of passion over feather history you have there. I missed it if anyone claimed they were new, but I personally did claim that they are popular, and I don't think that's far from the truth. ;)

I think this group tends to make these threads into debates because we have a bunch of rebellious artistic quilters here! ;) That's not such a bad thing. But I seriously don't get the controversy. LOL* One person basically started a thread to say they aren't such a big fan of feathers and dense quilting. It's like somebody saying "I really don't like yellow" and then a fight ensueing between those who support the color yellow and those who don't. It's interesting to hear different opinions...but you know what they say. Opinions are like another part of our anatomy that we all have in common...but I will refrain from being too vulgar. LOL*** ;)