Machine Quilting Unlimited - Special Edition - Winter 2011

10
10: The completed
sewn feather.
11: A more balanced
feather. By using a
curved mark on the
right hand side of
the feather I was
able to make a more
graceful shape.
12
spine at the end of each feather you will ‘kiss’ the
spine and then reverse the direction you are sewing
to go upwards. Sewn this way you can get
away with starting and stopping the thread just
twice. In the figures you can see where I used
the blue wash away marker line as a reference
to sew the spine. It is okay to not sew exactly
on the line, as you will eventually erase it and
your error will never be visible. On this feather
I am not entirely happy with the imbalance
of the feathers on the right side. (Figure 10) I
could have prevented this by making a simple
mark as a reference on the right side, as shown
11
in Figure 11. The mark helps me to gracefully
balance the right side of the feather with the
left. Again, this is just a reference mark, not
something to be followed exactly.
If you are feeling a little more creative, and want
to get a head start on the background quilting,
you can get away with starting and stopping just
once. Instead of stopping after the last feather
on the upper left, come back down the left
side, outlining close to the tips of the feathers.
Backtrack directly on the spine to the bottom,
come up around the right side, and begin your
feathers there. When you finish the
right side feathers you can again
outline quilt down that side. The
feather in Figure 2 was quilted in
this way.
Bear in mind that, as in all machine
quilting, it is easier to make a short
smooth curve than a long one. You
may be surprised to also learn that
it is easier to make a relatively small
feather rather than a large one. On
a small feather you have a shorter
distance in which you must maintain
control, while on a larger feather you
can end up having to create a longer
smooth curve, especially as you leave
and approach the spine. The wider
your design, the longer each teardrop
will be.
Tip: When sewing a curve, try
to sew the entire curve without
stopping. This usually creates a
22 Machine Quilting Unlimited | Special Edition Winter 2011