Month (lesson) 2 of SewCalGal’s Free Motion Quilt Challenge. Feathers. One of the best free motion quilters is the guest teacher this month, and she knows feathers! I printed out Diane Gaudynski’s lesson and started sketching out feathers.
Whooo boy, do I need to practice up! I don’t want to use stencils…I want to master fun, funky and free feathers all by myself!
For some reason, sketching these feathers is very stressful for me, so I need to loosen up. A cup of tea, and a search for chocolate is in order.
Yeah, I know. Desperate times. It’s all I could find in the house. Don’t tell Hubby!
My first feather. I had problems with skipped stitches. I tried everything…changing needles, thread, tension, fabric. I came to the conclusion that my machine may be having an issue. I am determined. I end up with a tea-dyed muslin scrap, Aurifil 50wt in the bobbin, WonderFil Tutti 50 wt. in the top, a Schmetz 10/70 needle, and a tension of 1-2.
I also chose to use separate colors in the top and bobbin, so I could really see tension issues. In spite of skipped stitches, the tension actually looks great.
The back (clicking on any of the photos will get you a larger photo):
The next feather was done at a later time and shows improvement. I was more relaxed and actually enjoying it.
However, my photos stink! Sorry!
This time I’m using Mettler 60wt. in the top and Bottom Line in the bobbin (I like this combination). Muslim is the same and again I am using a Schmetz 10/70 jeans needle. No problems with skipped stitches.
I kept chanting to myself…around the corner…around the corner…around the corner. Diane pointed out that feathers were made by rounding a coin. When I remembered that, my feathers looked better.
These feathers are stitched side-by-side, so I’ll have a sampler to refer to later.
I can do this!
LC's Cottage 