We were also signed up for a class on a feather quilted table runner. We got really worried about that one after hearing the first class didn’t quilt feathers at all. We chatted with the ladies at the help desk who made a few phone calls and eventually the person in charge of classes said she’d talk to the instructor, Lori Allison, about making sure to get to the feathers during class. When we got to class we learned that it was her first time teaching the class in a 3 hour format. She had 22 students the first day and our class had 10 students, a much more reasonable number. Every student had her own sewing machine to work with but there were only 6 ironing boards so it’s easy to see how 22 students were way to many for the class as originally designed. We all let her know that we preferred to practice feathers in class and assemble our table runners at home. I think the next time she teaches this class it will be ace! She was a bit disorganized but she sure knew her stuff about feathers and had some excellent tips. She recommended drawing them out in entirety when learning to quilt them but suggested just drawing out the spine later on. She showed us how to draw in a teardrop and add a dashed line at a Y-junction to help create some boundaries and many other tips. In the end, we were quite happy with that class and we learned a lot. My first feathers are a bit wobbly but I’m betting they’ll be much easier to sew at home on my own machine when I am ready to complete my runner. Lori definitely took the fear of feathers out of quilting for me.
