This picture shows trapunto, which is a technique used in quilting that gives a stuffed look to quilted motifs. I love the look of trapunto. It’s so fancy and elegant.
Right now I’m working on a wall hanging that uses lots of trapunto, and I’m so excited to see what it looks like when it’s completed.
Here’s a basic rundown of the trapunto technique I use:
- Choose a design that you want to look stuffed. It’s important to use a design that has an enclosed area. Mark onto the quilt top (I like the blue wash out pens).
- Layer a thicker batting (polyester works well) beneath the quilt top. You won’t add the backing just yet. Use safety pins to baste.
- Use a water soluable thread in the top and a lightweight bobbin thread to quilt along the exterior lines of your marked design. Remember you’re only quilting the top and poly batting at this point.
- Once you’ve quilted around the outside of the design, you turn the piece over and CAREFULLY trim away the excess batting, getting as close to your quilted lines as possible. You can easily snip the quilt top during this step, so slow down & pay attention!
- Now you have excess batting in only within the quilted motifs.
- Make your quilt sandwich: the top (with extra batting ‘stuck’ on the back), the regular quilt batting (I like using a thin cotton batting here), and the back of the quilt. Pin securely.
- Quilt the sandwich together as usual, making sure to quilt the entire trapuntoed design (not just the outside lines). To enhance the dimensional look, quilt really densly outside of the trapunto area – the flatter the surrounding area is, the puffier the trapunto will look.
- Attach the binding as usual.
- Immerse the quilt in clear, cold water for several minutes. This will disolve the water-soluable thread & any pen markings on the quilt top.
- Allow to air dry on a flat surface.
I learned this technique at Creekside Quilting in Clive from Connie Doern. I would highly recommend this class if it’s offered again to anyone wanting to expand their bag of quilting tricks. If you have your free-motion quilting skills down, this will be easy. Easy, but somewhat time-consuming as trimming the excess batting takes some thought & consideration. The results however, are well worth the time!