AlvaStitcher

I purchased a sketch pad from the dollar store last week so I could practice doing feathers. I have tried (tried is the operative work here ) numerous times to stitch feathers and wanted to improve my performance. LOL My question...when you do feathers the length of the quilt in the border, do you stitch one continuous feather or join several? If several are used, how do you join them? Oh, another question...do you try to make both sides of the feather symmetrical? Mine come out rather wonky.

QuiltnNan

the wonkiness could be disguised by curving your feathers... then the [petals] on each side would not be expected to be symmetrical. as to the length, i'd do it in sections.

rryder

My feathers are never exactly symmetrical, but they still manage to look fine on the finished quilt. If you truly want symmetrical feathers, Westalee makes several different sizes of feather rulers that can be used with a ruler foot on domestic machines--they end up looking so regular that they resemble ones done using a pantograph or groovy board with a long arm.

Rob

Tartan

I deliberately makes my feathers different sizes and sometimes throw in a swirl because aiming for perfectly symmetrical feather will drive me crazy. As for going the full length of a border, I work out a nice spine first so the different size feathers on the spine have a nice flow. You can also do section of feathers and branch them off the orinial. Watch YouTube videos to see which you like best.

Watson

I went through a video series called Feather Boot Camp and she has you do a LOT of drawing. You might like it.

I'm no expert, in fact I'm taking a class next week to work on this, but I've seen people do the length of the quilt and join then in the centre, making the curve of the spine match on either side.

For myself, I find the "bump back" feathers tend to be more symmetrical when I do them than others. But, they are never really perfect and I think that's good.

Watson

MadQuilter

I found that by doing the doodle practice, a certain style of feather emerged as one that I tend to gravitate towards. If you want a symmetrical one, then keep practicing that style. Instead of just marking the spine, maybe you need to give yourself some guidelines (like outer edges) to help contain your feathers.

quiltingshorttimer

I think totally symmetrical, straight spine feathers are way too formal! Plus I like the look of a curvy spine. I usually like to wind them around a corner and meet in the center. That way the feathers are various size and can fill the border better.

AlvaStitcher

Qiltingshorttimer, so do you have upside down feathers on some part of your border or do you change direction on the sides after you go around the corner?

bjchad

You can do one Long feather down each side. Or two that come out from the corners to the center, with a small gap between. You can even do a lot of smaller feathers. If you curve the spines you can tuck the beginning of the next feather below the end of the former feather. Lots of ways to do it.

Jan in FL

Watson, oh my goodness, thanks for the information about Feather Boot Camp! I just watched the first lesson. I am excited to go through this course. Ready to draw! I am brand new to longarm quilting and will take a lot of time to practice the techniques. This is just want I need to get started.