Check out Sue Garman's video!

[Margo C.]

Hi everyone -

I am just tickled to pieces, looking at all the feathered stars that have been posted so far - what a great showing of creativity!! You should each be really proud of what you've done; feathered stars are notoriously difficult to make, and most patterns resort to templates which can be frustrating for those of us who are "piecing-challenged...."

I have noticed a couple of comments or questions about matching up those seams when you sew the feathered star sub-units together, so I'll offer a couple of tips. I am assuming that many of you are talking about the ring of triangles that surrounds the center octagon of the star. Those triangle seams are tricky! Sometimes even my own stitching left a bit of a dangling triangle... darn it! But take a look at your seam lines, if your triangles dangle. Sometimes just sewing a tiny little bit deeper seam (don't undo what you've already sewn) will do the trick. If the seam is already a bit too deep, frog it (as in "rip it") and re-sew the seam a little less deep. The other thing that I sometimes do is to put a pin into the "intersection" of the two adjoining pieces, just to make sure that when I sew the two pieces together, the intersection is perfectly aligned.

Hopefully, these tips will help a couple of you perfect your piecing - including in areas beyond the dangling triangles.

Best wishes -
Sue Garman

PS - I LOVED doing the videos that you will be seeing -- they can be an amazing teaching tool. Many thanks go to Alex and Ricky for their support and patience with me!

[Margo C.]

I had a little trouble matching seams as well. I can match the seams that are straight in line with each other because you can "kiss" the seams up to each other. The ones that give me trouble are the ones that come at each other at an angle like the point at the end of each star segment (if that makes sense). Anyway, I have to say this was the first time that I've been able to do paper piecing with this much success so I'm very thankful to Sue for the pattern and instruction.

KT

[Betty D.]

I knew there was a very good reason that I waited to late in the month to start this block! I've learned so much by reading all the comments and now the video! Now I feel like I'm ready to start!!

[Cheryl K.]

When the 2009 BOM was introduced, I thought it was great but wan't interested in doing it. I made a Feathered Star before and once was enough. Of course, that was before paper piecing but even after pp became an option, I wasn't interested in going back to the pattern again. Sue's video gave me to "hook" to try it again. I would have confused the fabric placement from the start without Sue's great instructions and pictures. I think I looked at the pictures 50 times before proceeding with each seam.

Thanks Sue!

Kim