Quilt Feathers Patterns and Techniques

Peg Spradlin adds some elegance and beauty to your quilt top by teaching you how to add freeing feathers. Learn how to draft a traditional feather starting with the height and spine. As you become more comfortable with this you will be able to make feathered cables and feathered wreaths.

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7 Responses to “Quilt Feathers Patterns and Techniques”

Pam Jett August 2nd, 2018

I’ve made a dog quilt and need help on how to quilt it. I’ve done in the ditch around the squares and the different dogs . But how else should I quilt??? It seems undone.

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- Customer Service August 7th, 2018
  
  Hello Pam,
  
  Here are several tutorials that can help you decide what additional quilting to add:
  
  https://www.nationalquilterscircle.com/video/machine-quilting-designs-and-ideas-003768/
  https://www.nationalquilterscircle.com/video/quilt-design-ideas-for-machine-quilting-003639/
  https://www.nationalquilterscircle.com/video/using-zentangle-patterns-quilt-designs-011721/
  
  Cheers,
  
  Ashley
  National Quilters Circle Video Membership
  
  We’d love to have you be a part of our community. We are convinced you will enjoy the benefits of becoming a member and having access to the best instructional how to videos and professional tips. We would like to offer you a special promotion for your first year membership.
  https://go.nationalquilterscircle.com/C13134
  
  Reply
HDoody2007 February 20th, 2019

Do you have the feed dogs down?

Reply
- Customer Service March 7th, 2019
  
  Hello,
  
  Heather generally prefers to free motion quilt with her feed dogs up, as she feels a gives her a bit more grip on the fabric. However, free motion quilting is generally done with the feed dogs down. I would recommend trying out those techniques and seeing which one works best for you.
  
  Cheers,
  
  Ashley
  National Quilters Circle Video Membership
  
  Reply
Christine Hunter November 30th, 2021

I loved the instruction using the spine and height lines but how did she transfer her design to the fabric?

Reply
- Customer Service December 3rd, 2021
  
  Hi Christine. Thanks for contacting us. To be perfectly honest I’m not sure how she transferred the feathers. I do recognize the blue fabric marking pen that the majority of quilters like to use. I’m assuming that she either used a stencil and traced the design on the fabric or marked the spine using a ruler and freehanded the design with the marker. Most quilters I know either depend on a stencil for tracing or have been doing feathers for so long that they free-hand them. Minor irregularities are acceptable and the eye is so busy with the intricate design that they aren’t noticeable. Enjoy practicing a new skill.
  Colleen
  National Quilters Circle
  
  Reply
Duncan Garrison October 8th, 2022

In my opinion, formal feathers should consist of curves only. The spine should curve to give a general shape, and the “height” or limits curves should gently echo the spine on each side of the spine. I disagree with retracing the pedal caps. If that is done, the result will be that every other pedal cap will stand out because it is doubled. I think only the stems of the pedals should be retraced, as any “wondering” off the line will not be as noticeable as it is on the caps. I tend to stitch the pedals on the concave side of the spine first, whichever side that may be. Then I continue the opposite side in the opposite direction along the spine. That means being able to stitch the pedals from the bottom up, or from the top down. Bottom down actually seems easier to me, as I can see the limit curve more clearly stitching in that direction. If you want nice looking formal feathers, don’t be in a hurry to bring your pedal stem back to the spine. The divergent angle between spine and stem should never be more than 15 degrees.

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