The book is nice though, because she shows many variations on the feathers.

Diane Gaudynski recently had a great post on how she makes feathers:
http://dianegaudynski.blogspot.com/

And I recently viewed some great Patsy Thompson videos online on free-form feathers (spine vs. no spine), but I can't locate where I saw them. :roll:
They're out there somewhere. ;-)

Here's her blog (and her DVD's are great):
http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/blog/

This isn't the exact one but it's close. See how one end is smaller? What I can't figure out is how to go from one to another if they aren't joined somehow.

Do you mean from one end of the feather to the other end or from one feather to the other? I don't think the two different feathers are necessarily meant to be quilted together. You can stencil one or the other and shift them according to the space you are quilting.

I mean do you connect one feather to the next? I know these are 2 different designs and not meant to be put together but they were on the same stencil.

I think I am really mental today--I am not sure if I understand the question. If you going from one complete plume of feathers to the next, I will sometimes echo my plume to the point where I want to start another plume--then finish my echo when my plumes are finished. You could also just cut your thread at the end of each plume and begin again. It would be a lot of starting and stopping, but you could do it. Or if you are going to do another design between the plume of feathers, you can do part of this design until you reach where you want your next plume--do the plume and then finish the other design.
Does this make any sense at all?

I think I understand. You don't have to connect the plumes if you don't want to. Right?

http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com...hand-feathers/

Not sure if this link answers your question. I also learned through stencils. I drew the design on muslin with an ink pen for practice. Over and over and over. Once you practice practice practice, hopefully you will get comfortable doing them and you may end up with your own technique. My feathers have parts of the plume and the stem with backtracking. I am now used to the look, as some areas are more prominent than others with the double stitching, and most areas do not have it. When the feather is done, I think the double stitching (backtracking) really stands out and adds to the design. But not always. I too would love to be able to sew these things without the backtracking. To get the look of single stitching, I stop my machine, back stitch 2 stitches, cut the threads, and move to the next area. Works and looks just fine to me.
Leah Day is terrific also. So many designs, so much talent.

Wow... thanks lasies for all of the reccomendations... i will be practicing up a storm now... thanks again. this site is great..

Thanks for this link, it was an ah-hah moment for me.