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No Double Tracking Feathers


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Jeanne, if you're buying dinner at Chili's, you'd better bring it with you. Our choices here are Taco Bell or Burger King. See why I cook?

Sparkle, I'm attaching another image that might help. Basically, I start at one corner, freehand the spine towards the other corner (the green drawn line), make the feathers going down one side of the spine and then come back up towards the top where I finish off.

Patch, I think these are definitely quicker than the ones that backtrack on themselves. I can zip right through these whereas I have to slow down a lot when backtracking and try to get the needle to hit right in the holes made by the previous stitching when doing backtracking.

To anyone who is having a hard time making feathers -- you CAN do it! I wish I had something here that I had done when I first started practicing feathers. Mine are not "Gaudynski" quality but they definitely get the job done and I love making them. I could make them in my sleep. It honestly just takes practice.

Find a feather stencil that you like and doodle with it. Draw them on paper to get the feel of them. Trace them onto a practice piece and stitch along the lines. Then move the machine over, look at the ones you just did and try to do them without having a line to follow. It will take practice. They may not look so good but in no time, if you want to do them, you can get feathers that will thrill your customers.

Having the Circle Lord or perfect feather stencils is great. I love Circle Lord and I'm surely not knocking it but there will be times when you want a goofy shaped feather or you have some weird shaped spaces to fill and you really need to know how to freehand them. The ones I'm making in this picture may not be *perfect* but they are going to be pretty and they are way quicker than using a stencil or template.

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Joy, your post came in while I was typing mine. Does seeing the second picture and explanation help you? I start at the place I've marked "start spine here", go towards the other corner with the spine, make the feathers coming down and now I'm back where I started the spine. Without stopping, I go back up the other side making the feathers and when I get near the top, and end off there. I make the whole thing - spine, feathers down one side, feathers up the other side, without stopping.

If you still have questions, let me know and I'll help if I can.

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The way I got to do feathers is sit down and do on paper for awhile. This really helped me. Go get a book with Karen Mctasvish or Linda Tayler or Sharon Schamber or someone like that. They have fabulous feathers. PPP is the name of the game here. Nita

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Now, that's what I'm talking about......

I love those feathers. I took a feathers class at MQS but...

I grew up speaking Spanish (Tex-Mex) and took it all thru school. Then when I was a Junior, I decided to try French.

Yikes. It just about wrecked my Spanish so I quickly dropped it.

It was just like that at MQS. I had just learned those feathers like JudyLs; separate no-bump repeat feathers and I was just starting to get good at them. Then I sat in that feathers class at MQS. Those feathers were the back-track kind and as I tried to draw these back-track feathers in the MQS class, I kept falling back into the separate feathers. I heard my French teacher's voice, and scampered out of class before it wrecked my JudyL-style feathers.

I'm sure that the (bass-clef shaped) backtrack feathers are good for some but they do not work for me. I do like looking at them on other people's quilters, though. Funny, huh. I think the back track ones are more formal, maybe. I don't know.

I do know that I just saved JudyL feather photo and will keep it forever. :D :D

Thanks, Judy.

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Judy, love that feather and your stitching is just so perfect!!! I've finally gotten to the point that I can do decent (not really good) JudyL. feathers when I'm doing rambling type quilting, but I recently tried to do it in wreath form and had trouble staying consistent going around the circle. Any tips for that? Thanks!!

Lynne in Ann Arbor

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Lynne: Do you have a Circle Lord? If so, make your round spine. Then determine how far out you want your feathers to go. You can put in a smaller needle if you'd like to keep from making large holes. Set the CL to make that size circle, unthread the machine. Stitch and it should leave holes just faint enough that you can see them and make your feathers out to the "dotted line". Do the same thing for the inside of the wreath.

If you don't have the CL, use a compass and a water soluble pen or chalk pencil and do the same thing. Make your center spine, then draw a dotted line for where you want your feathers to extend.

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Judy L., where is your picture?? I like seeing your little smiling face looking back at us when I read your posts!!

I'll be down with Jeanne, only you can do the cooking....I've heard too much about it not to sample it!!

Oh yea, and you can show us how to do those feathers.

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Make that triplets, Sandra. I do the same thing! I think it's because I am in a rut and the feathers I know how to do come so easy for me. When I first got Sherry's Formal Feathers book, I loaded a practice piece and began practicing. The first ones were awful and after an hour or so, they looked halfway decent but I gave up and went back to the ones I can do almost with my eyes closed.

For me, I find the no backtracking method so quick. For the ones that require backtracking, I get kinda stressed worrying about hitting every hole, where I'm going next, etc. then instead of enjoying making feathers, I dread making them.

Why do that? One day I'll have the desire to make more formal, twirly, girly feathers but for now, I'll keep making my no backtracking method.

Did I ever tell you that when I first got my machine, I hated pantos. I tried them for a year or so and finally quit and said I'd never do them again. That went on for 5 or so years. Then I went back and tried them again and I don't mind them at all now. In fact, some days I love doing pantos.

You just never know!

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At MQS the opposite happened to me. I have been practicing Suzanne Early's "over-the-top" bump feathers for months and just getting it down --- then I went to 2 classes where they tried to change me to formal feathers. I was so frustrated, so decided I'd do it my way or Suzanne's way and it will all turn out in the end. There is no right/wrong way with feathers and they are all beautiful don't you think?

Sharon

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VERY nice feather. For those who are "freaked" by feathers, practice on scrap fabric. I got two sheets and loaded it into my frame and worked on feathers until I got them right. My dog now have a VERY quilted blanket, lol. I kept doing it till I finally got it right. I like to do things the hard way, without directions, lol.

I'll have to try to work on a feather to look like yours. Very nice!!

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