I took a trapunto quilting class through Nifty Needlers and made this cushion cover top.
Trapunto, from the Italian for "to quilt," is a method of quilting that is also called "stuffed technique." A puffy, decorative feature, trapunto utilizes at least two layers, the underside of which is slit and padded, producing a raised surface on the quilt.
The extra layer of high loft batting is under the ring shaped motif and the letter A in the centre of the ring.
All the motifs were free motion quilted. I traced the hearts on the fabric with a wash away pen.
The back side is warm and natural quilt batting. I used polyester thread.
Shadow trapunto quilting is five layers instead of three. I used
Geta Grama's tutorial and her flower pattern.
Geta's technique requires wash away thread to stitch the extra layer of high loft batting to the organza around the designs that will be raised in the finished piece.
I drew the hearts on card stock paper then cut them out and traced the trapunto motifs onto the wash away embroidery stabilizer. Pinned the stabilizer on top of the organza and high loft batting. After stitching with the wash away thread I cut away the batting around the flower and hearts. Next I pinned the pink cotton quilt sandwich under the organza and high loft layer.
I used Marathon pink embroidery thread to quilt all five layers together. The binding was applied then the wall hanging was washed removing all the stabilizer, wash away thread and fabric marker.
This is the back side.
After stitching the trapunto areas, the entire piece was free motion quilted starting with the centre and working to the outside corners. I drew the stems for the spray of feathers in between the hearts.
The texture is marvellous.
The hearts and the flower are very puffy.
The organza and embroidery thread make it shiny.
The binding is only two inches wide and was applied with a Bernina #71 Flat Felt foot.
I used Lisa Yarost's binding tutorial.
It's difficult to work with such a narrow binding but the finished edge is worth it. The binding cannot be wider as it will not fit in the foot.
Cutting the high loft batting away from the organza was challenging, because it is easy to snip a hole in the organza, as long the hole is not in the motif it will get buried in the dense quilting.
This was a fun project.
Dear Readers, have you tried trapunto quilting?
