Feathers
I love quilted feather plumes! Just not mine
These are ones I tried last year. They were horriable. I will not machine quilt feathers again, they will be hand quilted only.
Then 2012 came along and I found this wonderful Free Motion Quilt challenge at SewCalGal.
I want to improve my machine quilting a lot, I have hand quilted for almost 40 years and I love to hand quilt and I love the look, but I only have so much time and hand quilting takes a long time. Machine quiltng is so much faster but mine is barely passable . So January's challenge was heart shaped leaves, they were fun to do and practice. But February's is Feathers. I don't know I may have to quit. No! I must try. So I read through Diane Gaudynski's Tutorial. Still doubtful I printed out the tutorial and read it again. OK maybe I can do it. So I prepared my practice sample... drew a spine, that I was to follow, prepared my sewing machine, thread a lightweight rayon embroidery thread, size 70 needle, feed dogs down and darning foot.
Ready Set Go
I took my time. stopping after a couple of feathers (teardrops) looked and repositioned. sewed slow or medium speed. Tried to follow the directions. When I finished. I was happy. They aren't perfect and I still need lots of practice but my practice is pretty.
My next practice is a postcard and I think it is beautiful and I hope its reciepent does too!
Then after reading some of the other peoples posts on their practices I realized that I had not had any real tension or thread difficulties. So I did some pratices with heavier cotton (cream) thread and played with the tension and the I tried a heavy twisted (green) rayon thread and adjusted tension some more. Then I finished up with the embroidery rayon so I could end on a happy note. Thread really does matter.
Front
Back
I now look forward to making feathers on some quilts. But for now I'll practice.
5 comments:
Tina it's amazing to see your progress from the top of your post to the bottom. Your feathers are coming on just great. Well done:)
Your feathers after the tutorial are much better than before. Yes, thread does make a difference. Keep practicing as they are getting better all the time. Good effort.. bravo well done!
Yes I can see the progress too! I too need to practice more on my free motion quilting. I love it but make little time for it these days. Thanks so much for linking up at WIP'D for the month of February! I hope you will be a regular and to be an encouragement to me and other readers!
It's very encouraging to know that you tried and didn't give up - thank you for sharing! Your feathers show lots of improvement and I'm sure will continue to do so. You have inspired me to try Rayon embroidery thread, too.
You've improved a lot! I haven't yet worked up the courage to do this month's challenge - so you're way ahead of me. We must be brave! :)
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