Margo thank you so much for you wonderful tutorials. I am just getting back to the forum after a home full of snow birds. I and asked about blocking a block and I appreciate your instructions. I will give it a try.

This block went together so easily with Sue's directions and pattern. I've always admired feathered stars but never pictured myself making one. Thanks Sue for the motivation and making it go so smoothly.
Karen

My only other attempt at paper piecing was a disaster because the fabric pieces were too small. I am so glad Sue gave us generous portions. If I did the block again, I might cut a little smaller but I don't think so.

Margo wrote:
Hi Margo,

That was a great idea to start us out with oversized pieces on the feathered star. I'm glad to hear that the future paper pieced BOM patterns will yield less waste of our fabric. I had a little experience with paper piecing before attempting this more challenging feathered star. So, I had learned that the cut pieces only needed to be slightly larger than the section being covered and its adjoining 1/4" seams.

Hopefully, someday, I'll use this pattern again to make another feathered star. There are beautiful, but sure are a lot of work.

Nancy

Since I resized the pattern I was able to recalculate the cutting so ended up with pieces not very much larger than were called for in the smaller block size. Since I sew with the fabric on top of the paper I only lose about an 1/8" strip of the fabric and sometimes less than that. But I agree by placing the fabric underneath you definitely need larger fabric pieces to keep from having to do any unsewing.

What finger do I want to cut??? :shock: No one..I can make good use of all 10
I am happy those pieces are oversized ..made my piecing go faster, saved me a lot of unsewing (even cutting of new pieces) and saved me to reprint the pattern! So, even with some small strings of fabric cut off, I think I saved both frustration and money

Nancy, you're right. I was ready to piece my last three parts and realized I still had the 2 3/4 triangles to use, as I was finishing my last piece I realized that if I cut the triangle in half, I still had enough to feel comfortable piecing. As well that the individual components/templates should have been labeled so as to match the cutting/piecing list given.

Then again, my own note to self would be don't piece while watching the football game.

The good news is, It's done.

Nancy, the feathered star is the only part of this pattern that is so oversized....because Sue made allowances for novices and wanted to avoid frustration. If you make the block again, maybe you can print out the pattern and adjust the sizes of your cuts?

I understand why the instructions had us cut very generous pieces. It certainly makes the cutting and paper piecing a lot easier for novices, but what a waste of fabric! I suppose most quilters are willing to sacrifice fabric for the precision of paper piecing. It just goes against my grain to waste so much fabric, especially when I'm using the expensive stuff. I experimented a little and found that the pieces for this Feathered Star BOM could have been a lot less generous and still yield satisfactory results.

Katzzz wrote:
Give it a try, Kathy! Maybe you can teach Cinda a trick or two!

Margo
Thanks so much for putting up great tips and photos on your site. I'm still awaiting a refreshment coarse this week from daughter Cinda on paper piecing but I think I may have some of this figured out again by studying your photos and great directions
Kathy

I've been reading some of the posts about paper piecing and taking the paper out. I used water soluble paper on my feathered star , that way when it comes time to take it out, just need to get the block wet and the paper disappears. I really like using this paper especially when doing blocks with alot of seams. Makes it so much easier than trying to rip out the paper.
Pam in Tn.

suehenyon wrote:
I drew the quarter inch seam lines on the wrong side of the fabric sections after taking the paper off. It made pinning and piecing so much easier. You know exactly where to pin. It takes some extra time, but I didn't spend any time reverse sewing! Hope this helps. geneva

Do any of y'all old hands at paper-piecing have any suggestions for getting the sections to match when there are diagonal seams running in two or three different directions, like, when matching up the feathers with the feather points? Despite basting & re-basting, I've noticed that many of us were challenged by this, but a few pro's out their nailed the joins.
Thanks