Quilting Free-motion Victorian Feathers
In this one-hour course Karen McTavish teaches her technique for quilting free-motion Victorian feathers. The technique eliminates the need to pre-mark each feather. Karen also reviews a collection of over twenty diverse and stunning quilt examples that incorporate free-motion feathers.
Freehand feathers are beautiful and versatile. They can work in any part of a quilt, and on traditional, modern, pieced, trapuntoed, and appliquéd quilts. Feathers also combine with other quilting patterns with stunning results.
The technique is fun, and it saves you time. After you build your confidence you'll develop an intuitive sense of how to work with a quilt as you make in-the-moment decisions about where to apply feathers.
from KarenMy hope is that this course expands your vision of what you can do, giving you the skills and confidence to creatively incorporate feathers into your own work.
what you learn
- You start by drawing on paper, learning to add feathers to triangles and squares. This method prepares you to add feathers to progressively more complex patterns.
- Next you practice with white fabric samples, building your confidence and practicing the tricks that eliminate the need to pre-mark the feathers.
- You see demonstrations on real quilts, with both longarm and domestic machines.
- Karen McTavish shows and discusses twenty-one examples of quilts that incorporate feathering.
If you're a beginner, you'll learn how to get started efficiently with a beautiful and useful technique. If you're an advanced quilter this course will grow your confidence and introduce you to new possibilities.
Course structure
The course covers these topics:
- Practice on paper
- Triangles of the flying geese pattern
- Sawtooth borders
- Squares and multiple orientations
- Double wedding ring
- About circular feather wreaths
- Practice on fabric
- Stitch-in-the-ditch ruler work
- Demonstrations of adding feathers to real quilts
- Half-square triangles
- Irish chain block
- Appliqué border
- Appliqué medallion
- Double wedding ring
- With Cheryl Dennison, adding freehand feathers with a domestic machine
- A guided walkthrough of over twenty traditional and modern quilts that incorporated freehand feathers
- Plus bonus videos
related footage
Bump bump back over close-up is an optional supplement to the course. Karen draws a series of feathers on paper and slowly walks through the steps of the "bump bump back over" technique. Watch this video if you need a quick, focused tutorial to help you get more solid with the technique.
slow train series: freehand feathers is a 25-minute unnarrated video that shows adding feathers to traditional, appliqué, and modern quilts. Extended close-up shots show the rhythm of Karen's work and let you study her approach. Footage of Cheryl Dennison's work on a domestic machine is also featured.
acknowledgments
We extend appreciation and acknowledgement to all the quilters and others who gave permission to use their work in this project:
- Sandy Bodin
- Karen Brandt
- Mags David
- Rachael Dorr
- Cheryl Dennison
- David Devere
- Sara Duke
- Deborah Fenton
- Victoria Findlay Wolfe
- Krista Fleckenstein
- Luke Haynes
- Mary Kerr
- Kathy McTavish
- Judy Niemeyer
- DeAnn Paulson
- Heidi Pridemore
- Sharon Ropes
- Gail Smith
- Ann Tash
- Lin Thompson
- Marge West
- Wolfskull Creative
- Charlotte Wright
- Valerie Stoehr