I haven't tried this technique yet, but have a wallhanging that would would look good with this effect. It is a preprinted panel.

Question 1) when you make a slit in the back of the sandwich (I assume you do a sandwich the same way you would for non-trapunto), Do you then cover the back with another back to hide the whip-stitching? Or just leave it that way because it's a wallhanging? It seems like it would seem 'unfinished' that way.

Question 2) is there specific "stuffing" that should be used (or avoided)?

Thanks in advantage for your input.

I saw one done in a very interesting way. what she did was to put two layers of fabric together, the top and plain muslin. She stitched around the borders of the trapunto with water soluble thread. cut the small opening on the back and stuffed the filler into it. Closed the openings by hand. Layer the backing, batting and the top, now with the trapunto already stuffed. Quilted around the trapunto, freehand and very tight. Spray the quilt with some water to get rid of the water soluble thread and the trapunto now looks very fluffy. The new water soluble threads can be used on the top and bobbin on the machine.

Maria

That is how I do it, Maride, except I just baste then remove the basting stitches after I do the quilting. Water soluble thread would be even better though since you don't have to remove it. I'll try it next time.

There was a woman on Simply quilts who did it a neat way. She layered her top with batting or a piece of fleece. She then quilted around the area she wanted to be trapuntoed with water soluable thread. Next she cut away all of the excess batting/fleece and then layered the top,batting and back as usual. She then quilted it. The areas with double batting created a fantastic trapunto effect with no slits or whip stitching.

I hadn't heard of doing trapunto by cutting and stuffing - learn something new every day!

I learned a different way - layer the top with a higher loft batting (like poly) and stitch around the motifs with water soluble thread. Turn over and trim the batting right up to the stitching line; sandwich with regular batting and backing, then quilt, stitching around each motif again and doing a dense fill in the background.

I'll have to check out this other way - thanks!