Drafting for the Creative Quilter

88 DRAFTINGFORTHECREATIVEQUILTER

Redesigning a Feathered Star Block

The Feathered Star, a much loved and admired block
for quiltmakers, is another block in the 8-pointed star
drafting category, because the distance between its
points are equal. I designed the center block of my quilt
Asian Influence simply by fracturing some of the base
shapes of a 15 ̋ Radiant Feathered Star block (page 65),
the simplest and most basic of the Feathered Stars.

Side-by-side: Radiant Feathered Star block and detail of

Asian Influence

I began redesigning the Radiant Feathered Star on a 6 ̋
line drawing of a Radiant Feathered Star block.

Line drawing of Radiant Feathered Star block (The dashed line
indicates 1/8 of the design and mirror placement.)

1. I knew I would put something in the center octagon,
   but I was undecided at first, so I moved outward to the
   feathers. I decided to fracture one side of the half-square
   triangle feather unit. I simply broke the triangle into 4
   triangles by connecting the midpoint of the 3 sides of
   the triangle. This created a small square, which I divided
   in half diagonally (shaded).


2. There are many ways to divide the kite shape. I
   decided to first create a diamond inside. To do that,
   I needed to find and mark the midpoint of the 2 long

sides of the kite. I drew 2 lines at a 45° angle from the

bottom point of the kite to the marks on the long sides

of the kite. To fracture the new diamond into 4 smaller

ones, I found the midpoint of each side of the diamond

and connected those points to create 4 smaller ones

(red). This process also created 2 triangles, one on each

side of the diamond (blue).

3. Once I drew in 1/8 of the fractured feathers and the
   kite, I placed my mirrors so I could see the whole block.
   It became apparent that it would be easy to overdo this
   process and create chaos, because the fractured feathers
   create a lot of energy and demand a lot of attention. I
   tried fracturing the diamond at the tip of the kite shape
   but ended up leaving it as is. When I placed the mirrors
   around the design, I saw that it was getting a little busy
   and chaotic. You can fracture any and all shapes, but the
   idea is to create a beautiful design. The mirrors help me
   see the whole design and make informed decisions.


4. I then placed a point in the 4 triangles and divided
   the corner square in half diagonally to create 4 addi-
   tional points. To create the point (green), I measured up
   1 ̋ from the 90° corner on both sides of the short sides
   of the triangles and connected them to the midpoint of
   the long side of the triangles to create another layer of
   star points.


5. Next was the center octagon. I first decided that I
   wanted my Feathered Star block to be 15 ̋. I needed to
   figure out the size of the octagon. To do that, I used
   Feathered Star Drafting Method 2 (see page 67). The
   size of the center octagon for a 15 ̋ Feathered Star is
   41/4 ̋. I decided to place a Wheel of Fortune block in the
   octagon with a LeMoyne Star in its center (page 64).
   I sketched the shapes I needed inside the octagon and
   used the mirrors to see the results.

Steps 1–5: 1/8 of the redesigned Radiant Feathered Star block

in Asian Influence (The dashed line indicates mirror place-

ment for seeing the complete block.)