2/7/12

Free Motion Quilting Challenge February

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:

The Nifty Stitcher said...

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:)

Tammy said...

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!

Trails of Grace said...

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!

Mary Ann said...

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.

Chris said...

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! :)