how to quilt an image onto an upholtery fabric accent pillow ?

>hello,
>I am a recent lurker here.
>I have a sewing dilema involving a quilting/embroidery
>embellishment.
>I am making a set of accent pillows for the In-Laws and i want to
>quilt an image onto front of the accent pilows. The pillows are
>16"x16" and the images i want to quilt are nautical or marinelife
>motifs like various conch, nautilus, clam shells, sanddollar or
>starfish images. I want the images to have a substantial raised
>appearance, not gargantuan but not subtle either.
>I experimented with sandwiching 4-6 layers of quilters
>poly-batting between a muslin backing and the top upholstery
>fabric. Then sew the outline of the image. A few problems occured
>with bunching of top the fabric around the sewn image if i do not
>keep the layers pulled tight. The machine struggled a bit with
>feeding the fabric batting sandwich if i did not keep some feed
>pressure on.
> The image and raised quilting effect looks good until i attach
>the pillow back, turn it in/out and stuff with poly-fil. Then the
>quilting image gets flattened and you mostly just see the image
>from the stitches which is not a great image as the raised
>quilting provided a significant reveal of the image.
>Does anyone have any advice/tips on how to accomplish what i
>want to do ?
>Which is a raised quilted image on front of a stuffed accent
>pillow.
>thanks for any helpful advice.
>robb

>hello,
>I am a recent lurker here.
>I have a sewing dilema involving a quilting/embroidery
>embellishment.
>I am making a set of accent pillows for the In-Laws and i want to
>quilt an image onto front of the accent pilows. The pillows are
>16"x16" and the images i want to quilt are nautical or marinelife
>motifs like various conch, nautilus, clam shells, sanddollar or
>starfish images. I want the images to have a substantial raised
>appearance, not gargantuan but not subtle either.
>I experimented with sandwiching 4-6 layers of quilters
>poly-batting between a muslin backing and the top upholstery
>fabric. Then sew the outline of the image. A few problems occured
>with bunching of top the fabric around the sewn image if i do not
>keep the layers pulled tight. The machine struggled a bit with
>feeding the fabric batting sandwich if i did not keep some feed
>pressure on.
> The image and raised quilting effect looks good until i attach
>the pillow back, turn it in/out and stuff with poly-fil. Then the
>quilting image gets flattened and you mostly just see the image
>from the stitches which is not a great image as the raised
>quilting provided a significant reveal of the image.
>Does anyone have any advice/tips on how to accomplish what i
>want to do ?
>Which is a raised quilted image on front of a stuffed accent
>pillow.
>thanks for any helpful advice.
>robb

> Machine Trapunto seems to fit the bill here.
> You need to acquire some soluble thread (be careful not to sneeze on it,
> or lick the end to thread the needle!).
> Draw on or mark your design in some way on your top fabric - if I were
> doing it I would make outline templates and quit round or through them as
> I am not a successful marker or remover of marks, so I don't.
> Place a piece of batting behind your design - poly is fine, using the
> thick variety if you want your design to really stand out. You can use
> duplicate layers, but you might find slippage a problem unless you really
> anchor all the pieces down.
> Quilt round your design using the soluble thread as the top thread,
> anything as bobbin thread. When you have finished, with a sharp pair of
> scissors, and very carefully so as not to cut the top fabric, trim round
> the piece of batting used just for the design.
> Then put your full size piece of batting behind your cushion top, and add
> muslin behind that. Baste the layers normally (close together if you have
> already experienced problems with feeding through under the presser foot)
> and quilt, wherever you wish, but certainly over the soluble thread lines.
> Finally, rinse the complete top so that the soluble thread disappears.
> The spare bobbin thread will just stay there in the sandwich, it's not a
> problem as far as I have ever heard or experienced.
> I hope I've remembered all the stages - it's getting late here, and I'm
> just about off to bed!
> It sounds like a very nice idea.
> .
>>hello,
>>I am a recent lurker here.
>>I have a sewing dilema involving a quilting/embroidery
>>embellishment.
>>I am making a set of accent pillows for the In-Laws and i want to
>>quilt an image onto front of the accent pilows. The pillows are
>>16"x16" and the images i want to quilt are nautical or marinelife
>>motifs like various conch, nautilus, clam shells, sanddollar or
>>starfish images. I want the images to have a substantial raised
>>appearance, not gargantuan but not subtle either.
>>I experimented with sandwiching 4-6 layers of quilters
>>poly-batting between a muslin backing and the top upholstery
>>fabric. Then sew the outline of the image. A few problems occured
>>with bunching of top the fabric around the sewn image if i do not
>>keep the layers pulled tight. The machine struggled a bit with
>>feeding the fabric batting sandwich if i did not keep some feed
>>pressure on.
>> The image and raised quilting effect looks good until i attach
>>the pillow back, turn it in/out and stuff with poly-fil. Then the
>>quilting image gets flattened and you mostly just see the image
>>from the stitches which is not a great image as the raised
>>quilting provided a significant reveal of the image.
>>Does anyone have any advice/tips on how to accomplish what i
>>want to do ?
>>Which is a raised quilted image on front of a stuffed accent
>>pillow.
>>thanks for any helpful advice.
>>robb
> --
> Best Regards
> pat on the hill

> One other small suggestion in addition to Pat's excellent

> you quilt very heavily in the background area it will flatten

> and make the trapunto'd area stand up even more by contrast. A

> stipple or cross hatch would be two suggestions. A single or

> echo quilting around the trapunto before stitching the

> helps, too.
> Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

> > Machine Trapunto seems to fit the bill here.

> >>Does anyone have any advice/tips on how to accomplish what i
> >>want to do ?
> >>Which is a raised quilted image on front of a stuffed accent
> >>pillow
> >>thanks for any helpful advice.
> >>robb
> > Best Regards
> > pat on the hill