Quilting

Quilting is the method of holding various layers of fabrics to retain heat,to keep heat out or to be resistant to various things,as it is evident by the use of quilted padded cricket and football guards.Quilting falls into the realm of embroidery in that the layers forming the quilt or padding are held together with stitching.The main forms of quilting are:

English Quilting: Surface and backing fabrics are separated by the padding of carded lamb's wool,cotton wadding,flannel or thick blanket.The three layers are tracked together in a wide frame of parallel vertical and horizontal lines.

Italian quilting: the surface layer is backed with butter muslin and both are tacked together.Running stitch is worked in two parallel lines according to the required design,forming a channel through which the thick wool is threaded,from the back.Whenever the woolen padding thread has to turn a corner,a slight loop is left to allow for possible shrinkage.

Trapunto: It is also known as stuffed quilting and is like Italian quilting in that two layers (front ground and the butter muslin) are originally tacked together.Single lines of running stitch are worked around outline areas to be enclosed.These areas are then padded from behind,with wads cotton wool or other padding materials.