trapunto for set-in triangles

[Joan D.]

I posted this question under an old topic but haven't heard from anyone so I'm trying again to get some advice using a new subject line.

I've got all the parts & pieces together except the September's set-in triangles. I had to find extra fabric so .... I would like to try doing the feather pattern for the triangles using Sharon Schamber's domestic trapunto method but a fellow quilter thought that the feathers were too close together to make an effective trapunto quilt pattern. Does anyone have an option??
I've never tried to incoporate trapunto into a quilt before and wanted the challenge. If I can pull it off I think it would look great.

Also I'm worried about getting any accurate piece cut after the traputo has been accomplished. Won't the fabric with it's puffiness be hard to cut accurately. Can any one give advice on how to accurately cut the pieces to insue the circle stays round? I would appreciate suggestions from anyone in cyber land.

I've only been quilting 4 years & this is my first attempt at a BOM. It's been interesting & I have learned alot. Thanks Sarah Vedeller for a great design!
Mona

[Joan D.]

The feathers that are drawn on Template 2 do look a bit close together to do trapunto with. You need space to mash down with quilting to make the motif (in this case feathers) stand out more. So perhaps you can redraw the feathers given so there are less individual feathers in the design as well as making them float more in the center. Meaning the feathers don't come so close to the edge, giving more room for quilting around them.

I think I would consider doing Faux Trapunto for this. I would set my triangles in according to the pattern. When it was time to quilt, I would add extra puffy batting in the shape of the triangles to the area. (This is easily done on a longarm but with domestic machine quilting or hand quilting, you'd need to spray baste the extra batting pieces on the back of those areas before the quilt was sandwiched and basted.)

Then when quilting that area, mark your design with washout pen and stitch around it. Then fill all the negative space in the background with small tight quilting. That will flatten all the extra batting in those areas but leave the motif nice and fluffy!

I think I"d first do a sample block of this idea to see how you like it. It sounds like it would be wonderful!

If you don't have it, Karen McTavish has a great book that teaches how to do trapunto. Google her and you'll find her books and website.

[Lotti D.]

If, like me, you don't always trust the spray basting ( I find that it's great for basting large pieces, but when I use it for small bits here and there, they like to move on me), the water soluble thread is a great option, you can use a few large basting stitches to put the batting pieces exactly where you want them to go, and then no matter how much you move things about as you are layering the quilt, they will stay exactly where they should be. And when the quilt gets washed after you finish it all, all the soluble thread disappears.

[Lotti D.]

Excellent tip Lotti! I actually like to use even regular white cotton thread to baste, then I just remove it from each area as I get to it for quilting. Water soluble is a great option too.

[Lotti D.]

I agree, Faux trapunto would probably be an easier option. I did it with dragonflies on a quilt and it turned out wonderful. I didn't even quilt closely around the dragonflies, I just did the regular stipple that I did on the rest of the quilt and they just "popped". I stitched one layer of thick poly batting around each dragonfly with water soluble thread, then used my regular 80/20 batting for the whole quilt. I outlined each dragonfly with my quilting and stippled everywhere else (it was batik patchwork, so the quilting really doesn't show). When done, I simply took a spray bottle and sprayed each dragonfly. The water soluble thread just disappeared!