Latigo and Lace Feathers

Just a little piece I thought I’d show y’all, in support of practicing FEATHERS!

This is a piece I did as a kind of “dress rehearsal” type of practice session; that is practice without it being on muslin!  Sometimes I really need the “for real” fabric in order to ‘put my best face on’ you know?  Although it’s uncommon for feathers to be done with variegated threads, I really think it’s kind of cool.  I enjoyed how the King Tut thread performed in the color segments…

I used King Tut for both the brown and the blue threads.  One thing about King Tut is that it is a very subtle color change, and that is why I think it did well… you can still notice the spine lines… which are important in the overall look of a feather. I used an Isacord polyester for the “fill-in” stitching in the center… it was really HARD to see!  I won’t be doing that again anytime soon, although I liked how they really did ‘disappear’ into the background fabric.

Silver metallic (Yenmet metallic in silver) for the inner  border…

It was FUN to try something different with the threads… and see how it might work, yet build on my feather free motion skills. Using “real” fabrics is a technique I like to use when I first begin to see my quilting or technique improve.  A kind of  ‘investment’ psychologically, if you will! When I use muslin, I can have a tendency to get sloppy and ‘not care’ kind of attitude when I am quilting on it.  When it’s
 material I really LIKE… then it’s different for me!  I try harder!  Kind of just like a real dress-rehearsal does for actors! It builds your skills, while giving you something tangible to show for your best effort, and it also serves a valuable role in that you can have a piece to judge where you may you need to improve. And those  fledgling skills … turn into REAL SKILLS!  Yay!

And don’t forgetthe “hidden advantage” of using a straight stitch foot!