How to Machine Quilt Feathers

Machine quilting is a relatively new progression in the art of quilt making.

Historically, hand quilting has always been the favored means of quilting heirloom quilts. It took more than a century and a half for machine quilting to become popular and accepted in the quilting world.

In recent years machine quilting has become very popular. One of the most popular machine quilting designs is known as the feather.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Quilt top, batting, and backing (assembled and ready to quilt) Sample quilt Sewing machine Sewing notions Darning or free-motion quilting foot

Machine Quilting Feathers

1. Start with a clean sewing machine and a brand new needle. Lower the feed dogs on the sewing machine. Consult your owner's manual if you do not know how to do this.

2. Practice on a sample "quilt" to learn how to make the feathers. Do not attempt to sew the feathers onto a finished quilt project until you are proficient at sewing these feathers.

3. Begin to create a freehand feather. A freehand feather has no definitive size or shape. They are entirely freehand and so will vary in their appearance as you make them. Freehand feathers are typically used on quilt borders.
   
   A freehand feather consists of three parts: the spine of the feather (with hills and valleys), the feather, and the teardrop at the end.

4. Begin the feather in the quilt border's center. First you must determine where the hills will be placed and where the valleys will be placed. Try to place a hill at each corner and then follow this with a teardrop that will be slightly larger than the feathers.
   
   Work from the center of a border toward a corner. Designate the placement of each hill and valley with small pieces of clear tape.

5. Stitch two teardrops to create a figure 8 at the center of each border side. When stitching the spine of the feather sew gentle curves toward the tape that you placed. At each corner sew a large teardrop to end that feather spine. Stop sewing with the needle down.

6. Stitch the outside feathers by sewing half-heart shapes in a continuous line. The bottom point of each half-heart is the beginning of the next half-heart. At the center of this border, sew a half-heart at the ending teardrop.

7. Stitch the inside feathers next. The inside feathers do not extend to the corner teardrops. Start an inside feather on the spine at a corner valley. Sew a row of inside feathers to return to the center teardrop.

8. Stitch another spine, teardrop, and feathers toward the opposite corner. Repeat this process on the remaining three borders.

Tips & Warnings

• The process of learning to machine quilt feathers is somewhat difficult. Practice a lot on your sample quilt and soon you will have the skills to machine quilt feathers on your own heirloom quilt.