Feathered Star Lesson 3 : Finishing the Triangle Side Unit and Making the Center

First off I have to tell you guys the exciting news. Yesterday I got a comment on my Feathered Star tutorial from Marsha McCloskey. Yep, that’s right, THE Marsha McCloskey, as in author of the book Marsha McCloskey. She pointed out that if you use her bias cutting method to make your feathers there is MUCH less pressing (and finger burning) going on. I will demonstrate this method on Monday, you guys are going to LOVE it. The other good news is that there is going to be a new Feathered Star book out in April and she has a new ruler for making these tricky sizes easier to cut. I put a link to her website up in the right side bar. It’s a great site, especially if you are a feathered star junkie like me.

So, let’s finish our triangle side units.

Now that we have out feathers attached to the side triangles we need to attach the kites.

The first kite can just be sewn on as shown.

The second kite needs to have a center triangle sewn on. This triangle is made by cutting a 2 ½ x 2 ½ square and then cutting it again along the diagonal. These are also the triangles that get sewn to the octagon to make the center.

Here is how it goes

This kite then gets sewn onto the first piece as shown.

Make sure you haven’t butchered any points.

Now it’s time to make the center.

To make the center you will need to start with the octagon you cut in lesson 1. You will also need to cut 4 center triangles the same size as the last step. These are attached as shown.

A note to all you appliqué addicts out there: Don’t worry this pretty little star is going to get some flowers appliquéd on SOON. Seriously, I wouldn’t leave that out.