Day 279 – Complex Feather

The wings of the butterfly were created with this Complex Feather:

free motion quilting design complex feather

Difficulty Level – Advanced. Don’t let this rating discourage you! First start with Feather Filler and get the hang of that design, then try Butterfly Feathers. Once you have those two designs memorized, give this Complex Feather a try!

Filler Design Type – Stem Centered. To create these designs, you first start with a long, skinny stem, then travel along it and branch out with the feathers. This can go pretty much anywhere on a quilt so long as you have enough space to fit the stem and feather leaves.

Directional Texture – All Directions. The texture of this design really depends on how complex your starting vine line is. If you wiggle it around like crazy, you’re going to have a pretty crazy texture.

Suggestions for Use – Complex Feather is, well, complex, so I’d put this in an area that you really want to show off and stand out. The texture and thread play of this design is always going to attract attention, so maybe play with this design in the borders of your quilts, where you have lots of space for the feathers to branch out, flow around, and really show off!

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

3 Responses

  1. Mary says:

    I love Feather's! I had to watch this one. Thanks for sharing!

  2. LynCC says:

    absolutely beautiful

  3. This is gorgeous! Nice job.
    Deborah

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