Color in a whole cloth quilt

[Monica H.]

I saw the quilt that Laurie Tigner is making for her friend. I want to know how blue color is achieved in that quilt. It looks like there is blue in very specific places like inside of a very small shape in the stamen of the flowers.

[Nancy R.]

I haven't seen this quilt in person, but in the pictures it looks to me like the color details are painted on because of how they fade out in places. Another technique for getting color into wholecloth quilts is called "shadow trapunto". For that technique, you layer batting and a sheer top fabric like an organza and quilt your motifs. Then clip away the batting from the background areas. Layer the backing, another layer of batting, a colored piece of cloth, and your trapuntoed organza and quilt. This gives you white in the trapunto areas and muted color in the background. You should be able google "shadow trapunto" for more information and images.