Plate feathers tutorial

The feathered border is finished, now here's a bit of a tutorial on how I did the feathers. This method will work for borders from around 8in wide, up to 12in. I used it previously on two borders combined.

You'll need a circular template which is about half the width of the border, perhaps a little more, and an erasable marker. I use a Sewline air-erasable marker, as it goes on really easily, is nice and visible, and I trust it to come out. For round templates, I search through my crockery cupboards for a bowl or plate which is the right size!

Then it's just a case of tracing 3/4 around the template. It's a bit hard to see in the photo of the fabric above, so I moved to a pencil and paper diagram:

Start at the end of the quilting area, shown at the top. The 3/4 circles always start in the middle of the border, and alternate directions. I like to place a small cross at roughly the centre of each circle. This helps me judge better when filling the circle with feathers. There's no need to quilt the spines first.

Start quilting where you started drawing. Quilt feather plumes around the outside of the first circle, and follow along the spine as it turns into the inside of the second circle. Fill the circle.

Backtrack along the spine to where the second circle meets the third, and quilt a teardrop shape between them.

Then work back up from the teardrop. This step plus the teardrop above form part A of the repeating pattern once you get going.

Bactrack along the spine again, this time all the way to where the first circle meets the second, and quilt another teardrop shape between them.

Then work up from the teardrop, feathering up to the starting edge.

Backtrack to the teardrop and quilt feathers around the outside of the second circle and into the third circle. Combined with the teardrop, this forms part B of the repeating pattern.

At this point I went back to the earliest point which needed feathers adding, so I could mark some more circles without having to move my quilt from the machine. Because I use the air-erasable pen, I can only mark 3-5 circles at a time, so they don't vanish before I get to them!

Continue along the borders, alternating A and B.

When you get to a corner, be sure to place the corner 3/4 circle centrally in the corner.

You may find that the circle doesn't fit neatly into the length of the border. The simplest way to check is to measure across the circle (its diameter). Add 1/8in to this to allow for a gap when you trace. Then mark this interval all along the very edge of the border. If you get to the end and it perfectly meets the centred corner circle, then all's well. If there's a gap or overlap, the easiest thing is to squash or stretch each circle (or just a few if needed) a little bit as you trace. My bowl was 5in across, so I marked out 5 1/8in increments along the edge of the quilt, right at the very edge of the fabric. In a few places I stretched my 'circle' out by as much as 1/4in, and it's not noticeable. Another option is to allow a gap between the circles at the corners and to draw in a smooth connecting line. Does that make any sense at all?


EDIT - A couple of people have asked when to fill the first circle. You're right, I obviously got out of kilter! I've been locked out of my blog for ages and couldn't answer, and have forgotten exactly, but probably drew it in when I did the first teardrop - but I'd recommend you do it at the very beginning.