Lines and Feathers

After a week of intense quilting, I have finally finished this beautiful quilt by my client "Joy". She wanted it quilted similarly to the quilt pictured on the pattern she used. The quilt pictured had diaganoal lines across the quilt 1/8 in apart with a very intricate feather pattern (they called it angel wings) in between the lines.
I did the lines 1/4 in apart, with a similar feather pattern, although not exactly the same.

I quilted the lines clear out to the edge of the quilt so that no matter where she puts the binding it will look like they go right into it. This actually made it quite easy for me, since I did the lines first, because I didn't need to use any pins once the lines were completed.

This is the back of the quilt. I think this is my favorite view.

The fabrics she used were so beautiful, too. She wanted an off-white, pearl color. The thread I used is called "eggshell" and it matched beautifully on the front and the back of the quilt.

Notice that the feathering pattern alternates direction every section. I did one direction all the way from bottom to top, then took the quilt off, repinned it, and quilted the other direction.

Q&A about this quilt:

Q: How did you get the lines so straight?

A: I have a tool called a Gam-guide, made for Gammill machines. That is how I did the center line on all of the sets of lines. Then, I used my normal 6 1/2 x 24 1/2 in Omnigrip ruler to add in the rest.

Q: You said you didn't need any pins. What does that mean?

A: I generally float the batting and quilt top on top of the backing, which is pinned at the top and bottom to my canvas leaders. By quilting all the way to the edge of the quilt top, I didn't need any pins, as the stitching across the top had already secured it to the batting and the backing fabric.

Q: What do you mean when you say you worked from the bottom up? Is that normal?

A: Usually you would start quilting at the top, and work your way down a section at a time. With this quilt, to make sure that the feather design flowed well and was spaced correctly, I started at the bottom and worked my way to the top.

Q: Why did you have to take the quilt off and turn it around?

A: In order to get a more uniform pattern, it was better to take the quilt off and repin it so that I could again start from the bottom and go up. The end result is the same as if I had left it on, but started at the top and worked my way down, doing the feather pattern backwards and upside down, only with better results.

Have another question about this quilt? Feel free to leave it in the comments, or contact me by email: designsbylaurajo@gmail.com