Feather Practice, Part 5

This post is a fifth in my Feather Practice Series, and today, I share how I do my Asian-inspired feathers and spine variations.  These designs work great on Asian themed quilts, tropical quilts, and nature quilts and similar themed quilt top designs.

featherpractice5.pdf   (right click to download.  You will need Adobe Reader to view the file)

Feather Practice 5.1 by Carla Barrett

Feather Practice 5.2 by Carla Barrett

Print out and practice on 5-10 copies. Repetition is how you learn how to draw any feather type.   Practice drawing them and filling a variety of quilt spaces, too,

Freehand quilters: I suggest you mark until you can quilt this design by memory.  Now, when I quilt them free motion,   I will only mark the spine as a guideline.

I hope you are enjoying my Feather Practice Series.  If so, please leave me a comment.  My motivation for providing this free series is to provide assistance to any machine quilters who needs encouragement in their own personal quilting journey.   Happy Quilting, Carla Barrett

Latest Quilting Designs!

The Feather Practice Series will continue tomorrow for all the feather quilters. 

I wanted to share that Digitech Patterns has just released some more of my quilting designs.  Right now, if you go to Digitech Patterns and click on “New” designs, they are offering them at 50% off for a short time:

Kismet Frame by Carla Barrett

Kismet Panto by Carla Barrett

Swirl Flourish by Carla Barrett

Swirl Flourish Frame by Carla Barrett

Lots more designs are planned to be released in 2013.  Keep watching!

Regards, Carla

Feather Practice, Part 4

Thank you for the previous comments on this feather practice series.  We are now at the fourth in this feather practice series.

Today, I want to introduce a more traditional feather that I call an “Heirloom” feather.  These feathers are patterned after antique feathers that were hand quilted.   Other quilters call this feathers by other names- such as the “Hump & Bump” feather, too.  Heirloom sounds nicer to me and doesn’t invoke images of a pole dancer- LOL!

Here is the printable PDF file:

barrettfeatherpractice4.pdf  (right click to download)

Feather Practice 4.1 by Carla Barrett

Feather Practice 4.2 by Carla Barrett

Here is an example for how I did Feather Practice 4.2.  Remember, too, that you can print it out for tracing purposes, too:

Worksheet example by Carla Barrett

Feel free to send me examples of your Feather Practice sheets and I will do a follow-up post showing off all of your wonderful work. Valérie from France sent me her echo feathers examples and they were excellent!

Feather Video:  Because the order of drawing and quilting feathers can easily trip up a machine quilter, I will post a video that I shared last year in another blog post.  I show you how I draw several feathers, including an Heirloom feather:

This concludes Feather Practice 4.  In case you wanted to easily view an earlier Feather Practice, just click on the desired link:

Feather Practice, Part 1  

Feather Practice, Part 2

Feather Practice, Part 3

Have fun with the above handouts!  Regards, Carla Barrett

Feather Practice- Part 3

This is third in my feather quilting practice series.  I am sharing some of my favorite feathering practice worksheets, plus tips for better feathers for machine quilters.  These printable Feather Practice sheets are geared for any quilter- from those who sit down to quilt to longarm quilting professionals in business.

My theory is that anyone can learn to feather.  Feathers can be many shapes, too, though most people first think of rounded, more feminine feathers. However,  quilt feathers can also be pointy and more masculine, too.   Once again, this type of feather is perfect for beginners or those not yet comfortable with quilting feathers.

featherpracticebarrett3.pdf (right click to save as or download) *Note- for anyone having an issue downloading the PDF file, I have a helpful problem solving list in the comment section. -Carla

Fern Feather Practice by Carla Barrett

Directions:  Download and copy 5-10 times for practice.  Also practice on a blank piece of paper or whiteboard with dry erase markers.

Tomorrow, in the fourth part of this feather series, we will focus on Heirloom feathers.  As before, if you are enjoying this series, please leave me a comment.  Earlier posts in this series may be found  below:

Feather Practice, Part 1

Feather Practice, Part 2

Have fun and happy quilting!  Regards, Carla

Feather Practice, Part 2

Today is Part 2 of my Feather Practice series.  I want to encourage all machine quilters, both sit down quilters and stand up ones, to not be feather phobic.  If intimidated with feathers, the echo-feather is the most forgiving feather to quilt out and draw.   This type of feather gives the quilt a whimsical feeling.

I have also included a .PDF file of my practice handouts, which are intended to be printed out and traced or drawn on.  My theory is that by practicing over and over, you will learn to draw feathers.  If you learn to draw feathers, you can mark your quilt and quilt the design by quilting over the markings.

Here is my PDF:  barrettfeatherpractice2  (right click to save as or print out)

Feather Practice 2.1 by Carla Barrett

Feather Practice 2.2 by Carla Barrett

Directions: Print out 5-10 handouts to trace and draw over the designs.  Practice where indicated.  Once you have mastered the drawing, mark the design on fabric and quilt right over the marking lines.  Remove the marking lines and assess your mastery.

Carla Tip:  Practice new designs on a white board.  When I was a new quilter, I used to do this at night while watching TV.

Would love to hear your feedback from my Feather Practice series.  Regards, Carla Barrett

Feather Practice

I thought I would share a few of my feather quilting practice for anyone needing to learn or improve their feather skills.  I am starting with my freehand feather handout #1 (pdf), shown here:

barrettfeatherpractice1  (right click to download this pdf file)

practice sheet 1 by Carla Barrett

Directions: Print out 5-10 copies of the handout, and trace over all gray lines.  Next practice in the spaces provided.  This practice sheet covers drawing a freehand feather, feathering a simple spine, a curved spine, filling a space with feathers, and turning a corner while feathering.

This is a first post in a series for improving feather technique.  If you like it, and want to encourage me to write more, please leave a message below.  Thanks, Carla Barrett

Molly’s Quilt

Thought I would share some images of Molly’s quilt, which I am almost half done with.  This is a sweet quilt with some traditional quilting:

I will do my stitch-in-the-ditch work last, as I always do.  Keep posted!  I will post images when I am done.  What are YOU working on?