The Kousa Dogwood commission piece continues. 
I love to add the additional dimension of extra padding behind a few key elements in the design. It adds to the sculptural aspects and highlights key elements in the design.
In fabric, this padding process is called "trapunto".
Here are a couple of photos of the process. The first photo is of the back of the largest most forward leaf. You can see the basting threads and the lines of the leaf and the veins in the leaf. The stitch lines serve several purposes, some decorative, some for stability of construction. The challenge is to make sure that lines that are needed for stability also serve the design as well.
The second photo is of the back of the berry after I removed the basting stitches and cut away the extra padding that was around the berry.
My next steps are to complete the trapunto process for the leaf and then I will do the two step basting process for the entire quilt. That is both equally necessary and unexciting to do.
Nancy
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