The anatomy of a quilt

Do you remember this top ?

And this top ?

They became this! My largest shadow trapunto quilt –  55” x 55”.

When I started working on this quilt, there were two options: if everything goes well, I will make a beautiful quilt. If something goes wrong, instead of one quilt, I will make two- an applique quilt and a simple shadow trapunto.

My concern was that the trapunto design wouldn’t fit perfectly over the applique design. With almost 500 applique pieces and so many intermediate steps, no wonder I was worried.
But everything went perfectly, unexpectedly easy!

I basted the layers on the floor. I thought that I will have to match every single point of the trapunto with the corresponding applique point, but it wasn’t the case.  I did this only here and there.

Looking good!

I suppose the reason that everything went perfectly was that the 2 tops were very accurately done.
I did not transfer the applique design on fabric. I glued the pieces on a blank top. The paper pattern was underneath and I could see the lines without any difficulty. And I did this in the artificial light. I love light colored fabric.

And I printed the hexagon templates directly on fabric.

And, of course, best of all –  the paper is the best stabilizer! That is why the trapunto design was perfect.

Working on this quilt I realized how much weights the cotton batting (in the middle layer).
It was very difficult to move the quilt under the needle, even though I used my industrial machine, which has big space under the arm.

It was the first time I used such light colored fabric for the background. But I wanted the focus to be on the colored sphere and nothing to distract from it (that’s the reason I ripped out stitches for 4 days).

The quilt was incredible flat after the quilting was done, but not so flat after washing. But I kept smoothing it on the floor and it became flat again.
I did not bother at all trying to keep the circle perfect and the outer border square, but they look good.

Do you like it ? Because the cats like it. Whenever I don’t watch them, they are right on top of it. I used a lot the lint roller.

This was the original design. I wanted a light gray fabric but it was always out of stock.

I would like to see the quilt with your eyes. Wouldn’t be great to be possible to remove the memories of the last months (the hard work, I mean) and see just the finished quilt, for the first time. Without any WIP memory …  I am wondering what would be my feeling. For now, the quilt is already…old.
Definitely, I have to roll it and hide it for a few weeks/months. Maybe then it will be new for me too…
Well, I am sure that this happens to all of you, right ?

Do you like the technique? It is from my book.

Recommended reading:

Shadow trapunto tutorial

Work in progress pictures -organza+batting phase

Similar Posts

67 Comments

  2. Simply AMAZING. Your best work yet I believe. For me the hardest part would be printing out such a large design for the trapunto parts. How did you do that? At a special copy place where you could enlarge it?
    Magnificent. I would not want to put it away but stare at it for days and days!

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  7. I do not often comment on blog posts, but I feel I must when someone shows such incredible, fantastic, stunning work. This is one of the most gorgeous quilts I have seen… I hope you are planning to enter it into an international show… where it will get the recognition it deserves. Thank you for sharing it with me.

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  8. You´re an artist in designing and in doing and I admire your talent!

    For me it´s always the same with my quilts: I love doing them, I am glad when they are done and I don´t feel what I should when I keep on looking at them. Strange, isn´t it?

    Nana

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  9. I knew it – I knew it !! I knew that it will be a GORGEOUS one 😀
    "THE" gorgeous of all yours shadow trapunto quilts ! Congratulation !
    I'm entirely mesmerized …and in deep admiration .

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  13. It is stunning! I can see that it was a very large amount of work but I hope you will set aside those memories quickly so it does not have to be rolled up for long.

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  16. Потрясающе! У меня нет слов! Замечательная идея и виртуозное исполнение!

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  24. absolutely gorgeous! i follow your blog by email and as i scrolled by the first and last pix of your finished quilt, the circle seemed to move as though the camera was panning the surface of a ball from top to bottom. i scrolled up and down the picture watching the ball move! nice effect!

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  30. And once again, I'm in awe.

    Love the concept and execution of combining both the hexagons and the trapunto.

    Beyond GORGEOUS!!!

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  32. Beyond belief! Just absolutely amazing and stunning! I would never even attempt such a tedious design…but certainly appreciate that you did! However, it is so wonderful…that you have just sold another book. I just have to see how you did this!
    Kathy

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  33. I am not at all familiar with shadow trapunto. I have your blog on a once a week cycle and today was your day. I can't even imagine how much time it took for this quilt–it is phenomenal! I hope someday I see it in person. Congratulations. This is a show-stopper.

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  42. This is simply STUNNING! I am amazed at how beautiful it is, my jaw was literally dropping as I looked at your pictures. Your attention to details is obvious. Congrats. Your hard work has paid off!

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  43. Magnífico. Al verlo por primera vez me ha impresionado pues había seguido el proceso y no tenía ni la más mínima idea de que terminara con tanto color, sin embargo sí tenía noción del tamaño. Realmente, un gran trabajo. Felicidades.

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  51. If you were seeing it for the first time through my eyes your jaw would have dropped and you would have been speechless!!!! Truly an amazing quilt. One I would love to see in person cuz I know it'll be that much better.

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  53. Это просто потрясающе! Великолепно!" И все имеющиеся слова похвалы! Цвет, форма, аккуратность – всё нравится очень, очень. Это одеяло заставляет сесть и трудиться, чтобы хоть немного приблизиться к такому мастерству.

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  55. Absolutely amazing!! I am stunned by the simple beauty of this piece. I can't imagine making such a thing. I will enjoy looking at your creations, as I would never have the patients to create such a wonder!!
    Thanks for sharing.

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  57. I had bought your pattern for simple flowers in the same manner, and haven't started it yet. Seeing this lovely quilt, I feel like I'm planning the wrong quilt! But I have the fabric and will start mine soon….thank you for the inspiration!

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  61. Geta, LOVE this quilt. Check out Piece of cake blog post on 6-24-12 and on her right hand sidebar for another post on Machine quilting support system. It's a great way to help with the weight of the quilt while machine quilting. Your work is just beautiful.
    Chris, Tennessee

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  66. A marvel worthy of a gold hands. A beauty worthy of being in the garden of paradise I can not imagine the hours of work to make this work paciência.É of the most beautiful I've ever seen.
    hug
    Aldora
    Uma verdadeira maravilha digna de umas mãos de ouro. Uma Beleza digna de estar no jardim do paraiso eu nem consigo imaginar as horas de trabalho para fazer este trabalho de paciência.É dos trabalhos mais belos que já vi.
    abraço
    Aldora

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  67. Hi Geta….I just found you through the Aurifil Mini Challenge and Sew Mam Sew. I am certainly happy that I came to see your beautiful work. This quilt is amazing. I can hardly believe you got these to line up so well. You must have worked hours and hours to have this turn out so well.
    Now I'm off to see the rest of your items.

    Reply

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