Monday, November 15, 2010

Frogs, Stitches, and Trapunto

Today my design wall is on the machine.

I stitched around all the fused frogs, then decided to do a little trapunto with the threadwork.  Normally, when one does trapunto, a piece of batting is placed behind the shape and stitched around.  Then the excess batting has to be oh-so-carefully trimmed away.  And sad is the snipper who snips too close and cuts a hole in the quilt while removing the excess.

There has to be a better way.  Especially with these small frogs and their tiny appendages.  So I tried ironing my freezer paper shape to the batting -- I'm using wool for these --and then cutting it out.  This worked fine until I tried to remove my stencil from the batting -- it didn't want to let go.

So I settled for just cutting out a rough shape.  I sprayed the back of the frog/quilt lightly with temporary adhesive; then, using the stitches around the shape as a guide, I placed my piece of batting on the back of the frog.

From the front, I did my thread sketching, but I did not stitch around the edge of the frog.  I stitched only the parts that would give my frog depth.  I used a couple of different colors of thread and my freemotion foot.  I was careful to feel the batting underneath with my hand to make sure it stayed in place as I stitched.


Here is a view of the backside -- with no trimming necessary.

Flush with my success, I tried another.

I like this method a lot -- the only tricky thing is to make sure that the batting doesn't get pushed aside when doing the thread work.  I ironed the batting before I cut out the shapes -- the flatter it was, the easier it was to cut into the shapes.  Next, I'll finish the other three frogs, then layer and quilt as usual.  I will stitch around the edges of the frogs then and there won't be any threads to try to stitch on top of or to remove.

To see what other people are doing today on their design walls, click here to go to Judy's blog.

11 comments:

Barb said...

YOu do such fun things and interesting......

Tamera said...

Looks GREAT!

Robbie said...

Can't wait to see the entire piece quilted! I knew these frogs would look great on your piece! Great minds, right!

susan m hinckley said...

WOW. It's as if you're speaking a foreign language. And I call myself a fiber artist. Although I know everything you're talking about, I couldn't do it on a sewing machine if my life depended on it. And I bow down to anyone who can. Just beautiful!

Denise :) said...

I love your frogs -- darling! And what an interesting method! :)

Nina Marie said...

What a cool technique!! I might have to use that some time! You might want to try getting yourself a pair of sharp embrodiery scissors for the trimming part - I have a nice pair of 4" ginghers that would be helpful!!! thanks so much for sharing!!!

Barb in Mi said...

Yes, your frogs are too cool! Wow! And the amount of work & detail - you are my hero!

Judy Warner said...

I think I follow your technique and like it. Here is where I am confused. You say, 'I settled for just cutting out a rough shape. I sprayed the back of the frog/quilt lightly with temporary adhesive; then, using the stitches around the shape as a guide, I placed my piece of batting on the back of the frog.' Which stitches are you using? I thought you don't stitch around the frog on the front till the end so what stitches are you seeing as a guide? Am I making any sense? :) It sounds like a really interesting technique.

Sara said...

Ummm...I got lost somewhere along direction lane. But the frogs are totally hopping! ;P

AnnieO said...

Clever solution! The frogs are really singing now!

Sylvia said...

Quite an interesting method for a very nice result!