Thursday, March 15, 2018

Loose Feathers!!!

So I just finished up one of those "secret sewing" projects and am getting it ready to ship off to a magazine, but I was so excited about the quilting of it, I just couldn't wait to show you all!!!  So I took some pictures of the backing  since I can show that and here it is.  Yup I quilted Feathers!!! 


I have been reading over Natalia's book, Visual Guide to Free-Motion Quilting Feathers trying to build up my free motion quilting feather confidence and practicing on some little pieces.   I just love the way feathers look in a project, and when it came time to quilt this one, I knew feather's would be perfect.  But the design called for more of an all over Feather, and that's when I remembered . . .


This fun little video tutorial that Rebecca Silbaugh did over on Instagram for Loose Feathers using  her wee ones manga-doodle.  It was the perfect design!!!  I practiced on some paper a few times and then choose a thread that was a perfect blend with my quilt and just went for it ;)  And oh my goodness, it was so much fun!!!! 


This is a different approach to feathers than I have done in the past as you quilt from the bottom to the top of each feather.  Once I got that down, I figured out changing sides of the feather and more importantly, when not to change sides when you wanted to curve at the bottom of the quilting frame.  Sounds a bit tricky, but honestly, I was feeling pretty good by the end of the first row and I knew that this was going to be a new favorite quilting design!!!  It just flows so well and the traveling became so fun once I got the hang of it. And yes, a few times I got myself a little stuck, wedging myself in a tight spot, but I just traveled out and reminded myself that the thread color blended well and no one will ever find those few little spots ;)    


This Loose Feather quilting went relatively quick as well, especially as it was my first time trying it !!  This is a giant queen size and I would guess it took me somewhere between 3-4 hours to quilt it.  So fun and fast, double bonus!!!    I am just so excited I gave these beautiful loose feathers a try!!  What a wonderful reminder to me to just go for it, because hey, by the time you get to the end of the quilt, you will be a master at that particular design ;)

I hope you have a very Happy Quilting Day and maybe try something new for you too!! 
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6 comments:

  1. These feathers look wonderful! I love Rebecca's short videos. She teaches the designs well.

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  2. wow these really turned out wonderful. great job.

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  3. Looks great! Thanks for the link. Can’t wait to be reunited with Janome to try it out.

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  4. The feathers are beautiful and what a great reminder not to let fear get in the way of "going for it". Beautiful!

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  5. This is a fabulous design, and I would never have guessed it was your first go at it on a big quilt. Well done!

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  6. Your feather quilting looks so good - as if you’ve been doing them for years! I remember seeing Rebecca’s videos on IG, too. They were so helpful. Can’t wait to see the front of your quilt!

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Thank you so much for your sweet comments. I just love hearing from you!!
Have a Happy Quilting Day :)

Melissa