Reverse Shadow Trapunto

Learn how to create beautiful quilts and amazing illusions with this simple clipping technique!

Reverse Shadow Trapunto Downloadable Guidebook $12.95

Reverse Shadow Trapunto is a technique I created largely due to my dislike for appliqué. I love the look of curving lines and precise angles, but really hate the time consuming, messy, complicated nature of most appliqué techniques.

But I love trapunto and the art of clipping fabric carefully to reveal the inner design. After experimenting with regular shadow trapunto, I kept getting holes in my top fabric.

Not willing to let the imperfections go, I played with the technique until I discovered that by simply reversing the blocks, you can get a clean, appliquéd look with no holes and no mess. Talk about convenient!

Now you can learn how to do Reverse Shadow Trapunto too!

This is a downloadable, 25 page book explains the technique fully with clear, easy to understand illustrations and photos. Best of all, the Winter Wonderland Quilt Pattern is included with the Reverse Shadow Trapunto Guide!

Print out full sized patterns for each of the 13 blocks and learn how to create even the most complex snowflake motifs easily by simply clipping away batting to form the design.

Why is this called Reverse Shadow Trapunto?

Regular Shadow Trapunto is created by drawing the design on the top layer of fabric, in this case, the delicate silk organza. After drawing the design on the organza, you would then stitch the motif and cut it out.

I found after much trial and error, that one single miss-snip could cause noticeable holes to appear in the silk organza.

By reversing the technique so that the design, stitching, and clipping is done on the background fabric, not the organza, you eliminate the chances of clipping through the top and speed up the process at the same time.

What are the limitations of this technique?

No technique is perfect and will work in all applications. This technique would not be suited to a bed quilt due to the dense level of quilting needed to secure all the layers of the quilt.

The silk organza would also render this a technique used only on wall quilts as needs to be handled with care.

The final limitation is size. A Reverse Shadow Trapunto quilt will not be able to exceed 55" wide because silk organza is not produced in wider widths.

If you're working by individual blocks, like on the Winter Wonderland Quilt, of course this would not be an issue.

But if you were creating a wholecloth quilt, you will need to keep your quilt under 55" wide. Any wider and you will have to piece the organza together, which would be extremely noticeable.

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