I have read that most quilters do a better job of quilting down one side of a feathered motif than the other. Tonight I am quilting- by machine- my first feathers and I found out that I am left-feathered. Yep, I do the left side better than the right. Why... I don't know. I've twisted and turned it so many times who can say which direction I was quilting when or where???
Also, the most current books on machine quilting all sing the glories of thin threads, even using super thin 100 wt. silk threads. The thought seems to be that the depressions made by the thinner thread emphasize the quilting pattern rather than the quilting stitches, you can't really see the individual stitch lengths as well and the traveling/backtracking doesn't show hardly at all. I quilted half of one feather with a glorious skinny polyester Trilobar in the prettiest shades of deep pink, lavender, peach and a turquoise blue. I hated it! The skinny threads show every little tiny wobble as a right angle corner! (It does the same thing with satin stitch applique- if you don't pivot at exactly the right time and exactly the right amount of pivot the skinny threads will tattle on you. The cotton thread is more forgiving there, as well.) So, I started the other feather using my fave cotton thread- Robison-Anton- and it went so much smoother. I guess with the cotton being thicker it doesn't 'corner' the same way the skinny Trilobar did- the cotton kind of rounds off the wobble or something.
Unquilting bothers me. When I have to remove stitches in piecing or applique I always feel like 'oh well, stuff happens'. But when I have to un-quilt then I feel like I've failed at it. Maybe it's because I feel I'm pretty good at piecing and applique and don't have a great deal of self-confidence when mq'ing? Either way, I'm glad the unquilting is over with and I can re-quilt that area with my sweet, fat cotton thread.
Back to my handbag making. This one is a 'whole cloth' handbag!
Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.