How to Make an Item Stand Out When Stitching Outline Quilting

Trapunto quilting makes quilt design elements stand out.

If you go through any of the larger quilt shows, you can find a number of quilts that have parts of the quilt design that almost look three-dimensional. This method of puffing out certain parts of the quilting motif is known as trapunto quilting. Quilt a double line in your motif, much like you would quilt a stem or vine, and fill in the resulting space using a special technique. The results are a 3-D texture that highlights the quilting design.

Things You'll Need

• Fabric-marking pencils
• Rubber band
• Quilt hoop
• Quilt needle
• Quilting thread
• Scissors
• Yarn needle
• Thick yarn

Instructions

1. Hold two fabric-marking pencils side by side. Wrap a rubber band around them to hold them together. This creates a tool that makes two marks that are 1/4-inch apart.

2. Trace the quilt motif onto your quilt top using the doubled marking pencils. If you are using a quilting stencil, trace the shape with a single pencil then go over it with the double pencil to get an accurate second line.

3. Load the quilt into a quilt hoop and quilt along all the double quilting lines.

4. Remove the quilt from the hoop. Cut a 12-inch piece of thick yarn, such as ponytail tie yarn, which matches the color of the quilt top fabric.

5. Push the yarn needle through the top fabric in the quilt between the two quilted lines. Thread the needle through the channel, pulling the yarn through the area until you reach the end of the yarn or the quilted lines. Push the needle back out through the fabric. Clip off the yarn right at the surface. Manipulate the top fabric so the yarn slips underneath.

6. Add more strands of thick yarn until the surface of the quilt has every double line stuffed.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a white top and colored yarn to create the subtle effect known as "Shadow Trapunto" or "Color Trapunto." The color shows through very slightly, giving a subtle shadow effect.