Flock of Feathered Stars

Feathered Star Quilts

I have always been so amazed by feathered star quilts, especially the quilts that were made in the 1800s. The quilter from the 1800s did not have the "tools" of today. They made those fabulous quilts using a template made of whatever was available along with their fabric, needle, thread, and scissors.

My dear friend, Diane Donnelly, and I share a passion for old quilts. In 2009, she gave me a book called Quilts Their Story and How to Make Them, written by Marie D. Webster in 1915. Seeing how excited I was with that book, she gave me another later that year called Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America written by Carrie A. Hall and Rose G. Kretsinger in 1935. That was all the inspiration I needed to write a book on how to paper piece feathered stars. That is the only way to make a feathered star quilt … right?

Some of the designs in the books used pieces that finished at 1" or less, and I have to admit some of them were quite a challenge to draw. I wanted to get as many designs as possible into one quilt along with a border block (I had to have a border block) that I had seen on one of the quilts without making the book so big you couldn't lift it. I hope you like the selection of feathered star blocks I have chosen to include. Some of the blocks you may have seen before but others are designs that I think will be a pleasant surprise.