A Free Motion Feather Tip

It's been a while since I've had a complete and total free motion quilting Ah-ha moment, but I had one today! I ordered Deborah M. Poole's book, "You Can Quilt It!" and it hit me when reading about stitching feather spines.



There's a spot where she talks about stitching the spine first, then stitching up one side and ending in a tear drop at the tip. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!

See, I have been stitching my spines first, but I start them off with the tear drop at the tip.


Nothing really wrong with this, but it means I have to match up the plumes on both sides of my spine with the already drawn teardrop tip. Granted, these aren't the best feathers I've ever drawn, but see how it's a bit awkward there at the tip?


I am so glad I can actually stitch better than I can draw! If you're new to FMQ, don't despair at your drawings.


 Now above, I just drew the spine, not the teardrop at the top. That first side worked into the teardrop much more smoothly as the end of the plumes. Then I only had to work in the other side.


What a great tip! I am so glad to have gotten my hands on this book. Deborah is a frequent poster on MQResource.com where I have learned so much from so many longarm quilters. She even made sure to have the book done with a spiral binding so it will lay flat for referencing a design when quilting.

While I know there are some inherent differences between longarm quilting with a moving machine and a sit-down machine while we move the quilt, I've found that there is a lot to learn from great quilters, no matter how they are quilting.

Deborah is an excellent quilter and loves doing feathers and ruler work, which is what I love. So I've learned even more from her book. Have you visited my ruler work page and posts?

I hope to get some ruler work posts done in the near future, and of course get the next free motion Monday link party going!

12 comments:

  1. I'll have to try that one - I'd never thought about it before - thanks for sharing!!

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  2. Good Point! Then you can decide what size to make the teardrop!

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  3. Amazing how much of a difference the little things can make isnt it?? Thanks for sharing!

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  4. I'm going to give this tip a try! I always draw the teardrop first. Time to try a new approach!

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  5. I used to stitch the teardrop at the top and it was often a problem so I just started leaving it off and lo and behold the tip of the feather was so much easier to stitch! I'm not familiar with the book you mentioned so I'm off to take a look at it! Thank for mentioning it!

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  6. I have lately been reexamining that tear drop too. I have been dropping it on a straighter feather like this because you're right, it's awkward spacing.
    But still working on using it in a curved to the inside feather. We'll see about that one.

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    1. Definitely, there are places that you need to get that teardrop established, especially if it’s a tightly curved spine. But I like leaving it if I can so I only have to match up one side.

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  7. That's an awesome book, and I had an aha moment about quilting with rulers on my Janome 6600 when reading through it. .. .I wondered if any other quilters had tried that, and I found your awesome website. Talk about aha moments!! :-)

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    1. Note to self: Must do more ruler work posts!

      Welcome to my free motion quilting adventure!

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