Hand Piecing Feathered Star

A number of people have remarked on my hand piecing - how I choose the colours, and the speed with which I get things done.  I am now working on the final block of my 4 block class sample, so thought I would show how it is is done.

I choose my main fabric - the big print, and what I want to go with it.  Nice and bright!

I mark the shapes onto the template plastic with a Sharpie, and cut them out accurately.  The green Artline Pen is washable, and exccellent for marking shapes onto fabric backs. It comes out!

These are my $3 Ikea scissors - use them for everything.  I roughly cut around the shapes, eyeballing the 1/4".  I trim that all off later

Lay out the pieces in front of me so I can see what I want to do.  I am piecing continuously, working in a zig zag fashion along the seams until all are joined.  Start at the bottom RH side where the first triangle is joined.

Pin one corner to the marking line only, do two tiny backstitches at the start of the row and off you go

The running stitch is continuous - I just fold it along the needle.

Stop at the top RH side of the work and bring in your next triangle - the blue one. Do a couple of backstitches

Then start stitching along the straight line  where they join

Bring the thread out to the right side of the work and join in the next piece - two more back stitches to start and finish

You can see the pattern start to develop, and this is done with just one thread, no knotting off and no restarting

I keep my picture handy so I can see where I am going with it.  In this case I will make 4 of these units and 4 of the small ones without the points, and piecing them continuously around the dark larger triangles.