Problems with points on Star

[Cheryl K.]

:?: I am finished with my feather star BUT some of my tiny feathers are missing that nice crisp point, I tried moving over sewing the strip of the feathers to the "W" piece by 2 threads, and now the pieces do not line up. I really need your input == it is so pretty. ANY ideas?

Another issue the strips are real stretchy how do you keep them from stretching too muchn?? Thanks Robin

[Karen G.]

I used Sharon Schamber's glue basting technique to sew my finished sub-units together. I LOVE this method. I took a class from her, but she also has some great videos on her website that explain it in detail.

You line up your seams on the ironing surface and glue them in place, and then they are completely stable. You can open the seam to check how the points line up before you sew. Sew with the points on the top, just a thread width outside the point to allow room for the seam. It is much easier and quicker than pinning, and the fabrics do not shift. I only had to re-do a couple of them where multiple points have to meet at the star tips.

[Margo C.]

Great tip, Karen! If anyone is interested in Sharon's techniques for gluing pieced blocks here is a link to her free tutorial. It shows a curved flying geese design, but you can get the concept of gluing and stitching:

http://sharonschambernetwork.com/fre...ese/part1.html

For future reference, Robin, you might want to think about starching your fabrics before you cut the pieces out to stabilize them and reduce stretching. You can probably starch them lightly now if you are really careful not to stretch them when you press them. Let us know if you do, and how it works for you!

I will be showing how I starch my fabrics in next month's tutorial if you are intersted.