I have done the fish only on some of the wall hangings I have made for my brothers. I took a netting with holes in, the netting was soft but the holes were larger then what bridal netting has. I did a basting stitch around the fish, no knots, and used a thread color that I could easily see. After I was finished with the basting, I took what I call Hallmark yarn, the fluffy kind that was used for gift wrapping, and using a large eyed needle, I pulled the yarn through the holes in the netting till I filled out the full fish, fins and all. If I needed to, I stuck the needle in and smoothed out any areas that needed it. I finished all the fish, then using a hoop with the quilt sandwich, I quilted around the fish, starting in the middle of the quilt, and working my way my way out. When I had basted the trapunto fish, I had stitched outside the fish by about one stitch line. When I was quilting the whole thing, I quilted on the lines around the fish which helped to make them stand out better. I was more pleased in doing it this way. It was so much easier. When I was quilting around the fish, I would get an area done and pull my basting threads out. My brothers were so pleased they ordered one to be chanced off. Now I found more with bass on so will surprise them with that. The bad part of all this is they do not pay me. I have 4 brothers and they think I can whip them out. Sure....