georgiat

I bought my midarm a couple of years ago and never took the classes that were provided until this past summer. What a difference it made! My feathers are still in need of work but are improving. One thing my instructor said was to think of each feather as a question mark, fat at the top and thinner at the bottom. I had been doing the heart shape before. When she said question mark it kind of clicked a little. I suppose it depends on how you draw hearts. But, after she said question mark I could see that most of the really pretty feathers had a skinnier tail on them. She also suggested using muslin but I thought it was such a wast of $ to quilt lots of pieces of muslin. Her suggestion was still to use muslin but to quilt in a different color each pass and quilt the sandwich 4-5 times before considering it used up. This way you aren't spending more money and you can see the difference in the quilting due to the strong color change! That was on of those duh moments! Why didn't I think of that! I, like many others who have responded use a large dry erase board for practice. Then when I get a pattern I like I repeat it in a notebook for reference down the line for future quilts. I'm afraid I'll forget some really good ideas since I don't do this for the public, only for very select friends and myself!

georgiat

Oh, One other thing! The instructor told us to lay a nickel or quarter beside the intersection of seams. If it hung up when you were sliding it around then avoid that area with the needle as the hopping foot would probably hang up there as well!

doowopddbop

I had a hard time getting going on my feathers, too, but I finally got my own style. I chalk a stem line, then just feather around the chalk line. I also try to leave a consistent space between the feathers, and it works great for me. I have better success when I am just doodling with my giant sewing machine than trying to use a pantograph.

For practice, I get a roll of newsprint bolt ends (free or for little $ at the local newspaper office), roll it out across the dining room table, and use washable magic markers in different colors to practice my lines - I hold them like I would the handle of my machine to get some good muscle memory.

misoop

doowop....those are really pretty....what a great idea to "chalk" the stem line....I'll try that, too.

And, I thank everyone for your great suggestions and tips. This has just been great.....keep it going as it sounds like others have the same problems. I guess most everyone does when starting out. But, like someone said to remind me...we aren't all going to do ALL things as well as someone else. So, we do have to find our own niche. But, I know the key is practice, practice. I've made up my mind to try to spend 30 minutes every day IF possible to practice, practice. If I can't do that, I'm going to practice on paper everyday. Thanks again!! :)

zipit

This really has been a great thread.

Joy

dunster

doowop - beautiful quilting!

Shelley

Keep in mind, too, that your quilting will have your 'signature'. Ever try to write your name in a different style? It's HARD to do!! We all had someone who taught us the basics, but our handwriting is 'us'. Your quilting will be the same way.

Bobbielinks

I'm back with some names of books and websites for those of you wanting more information on quilting feathers. Lee Cleland's book "Feathers that Fly" (martingale-pub.com)shows how to design, mark, and machine quilt feathers. Linda Mae Diny's book "Circular Quilting" gives very good advice on using circles to make your feather spines along with pumpkin seed, rope, stained glass, clamshells and continuous curves quilting. Then a favorite of mine by Jodi Robinson is "LessStressFeathers"(PictureTrail.com/jrdesigns)
Nichole Webb has a great book "Floribun da: An Explosion of Ideas for Free-style Machine Quilters".

Classes are wonderful and money well spent; however I find that I do better with books and DVD's that I can read or view over and over at my own pace. And nothing works for me without practice, practice, practice.

misoop

Thanks, Bobbielinks, for giving us the names of those books. I will be checking into them. I did practice again yesterday....got pretty good with doing straight lines with the ruler. Surprised myself on that one. Feathers still looked horrible. :)

drgranny

I have had my longarm for about2 years. I did not take the free class that came with it until almost 2 years later. I did a lot of practicing on my own before I finally did the class. A nursing home gave me a lot of fabric that they had used to cover bulliten boards each month. They were getting new bulliten boards and didn't need the fabric any longer. They asked me to make lap quilts for the residents. So I had plenty of fabric to practice on. I have picked up muslin and other fabrics at garage sales so haaven't lacked for practice materials. After I finish practicing on a piece I bind it and give it back to the NH as a lap quilt. That way it isn't all for nawt. When I finally took the clas I learned that I had been doing lots of things the hard way. I had been doing lots of pantographs and was getting pretty good at them, but didn't really like my freemotion stuff. I do wish that the company I bought my machine from wasn't so far away, I would take more lessons. I haven't heard about any longarm lessons or classes in my area. But I do know that it takes practice practice practice. And I have not yet done enough. I don't plan on getting discouraged tho. Can't afford to not to use this $10,000 toy