Feathered Star Block - Dissected

I'm fascinated by the Feathered Star block, as I think many people are, and I love figuring out complicated designs.  I enjoyed working it out, so I thought I'd share what I've learned along the way.

As I started to analyze the block and see all of the various ways this has been created, I decided to explain some of the variety to help understand the dynamics of this block. 

Glossary

Here is a glossary of the names of different parts of the star block.

• Feathers: all of the HSTs (half-square triangles) that make the feathered edge of each star point
• Feather tips: the diamond that is at the very tip of each star point
• Cornerstones: the HSTs that are at the base of each row of feathers where each star point joins the next start point
• Kites: the kite-shaped center of each star point
• Pentagon Center: the very center of the feathered star
• Pentagon tips: the small triangles that surround the Pentagon Center
• Inset background squares and triangles: the background pieces that surround the feathered star

The first three parts listed above are constants, they always exist in some form in the feathered star.  The remaining items may differ from one type of feathered star to another.  Sometimes the kites are replaced by triangles with the small triangles that are the Pentagon Tips as a part of that piece.  Sometimes the Pentagon Center is something different.  I will touch on all of that later in more detail.

Here is a Feathered Star block that I created while doing my research.

Blue & White Feathered Star Block

How many Points?

It may seem obvious, but the Feathered Star always has 8 points.  The reason for this is that the bases of the points come together, or join, at a right angle, allowing the cornerstone square that joins the two points to be a square.  If there were more or fewer points in the star, then the points would not join together at right angles and a square would not fit there.  It would have to be something other than a square.

Perfect Symmetry (or not)

You may have noticed that some feathered stars are perfectly symmetrical, like the one above, and others are not.  When each point is symmetrical, then the star is perfectly symmetrical.  In an asymmetrical star, the points are somewhat lop-sided, with more feathers on one side of the point than on the other.  The greater the difference, the more obvious the asymmetry becomes.  This shift causes pairs of points to move closer together, which also make the background squares larger and background triangles smaller.

You may be thinking that there is still symmetry in all of the blocks, and you are right; however, if you will be making one of these stars with the lop-sided points, you'll need to be very careful to make four points one way and four points as a mirror image.  If you make them all exactly the same, you won't be able to get them together properly.  (But, would they go together?  Maybe that would be interesting!)

It's all about the "feather"

To start making a feathered star, you are obviously wondering about measurements and size.  Well it all starts with the feather.  The first drawing I did started with the HST as a one-inch square.  The feathered star block above ended up being about 14 1/2 inches square, so if you are looking to make a block that is smaller, you'll want to start with HSTs that are less than one inch square.

Make no mistake about it, this is not an easy block to make, but the reward is well worth the work.  The block shown here is the cornerstone of a quilt I'm making with many different quilt blocks in different sizes.  I look forward to sharing my progress.