Boutis Tabletopper: Assembly

Back in the summer of 2012 in Montpellier, in the south of France, it was my good fortune to participate in a series of classes in boutis with Madame Francine Born. (See my post of Sept. 9, 2012 "Backlit Boutis").

Below is one of her designs; the piece that we worked on in that course. It is a fairly traditional design and uses a variety of traditional boutis stitches. Held up against the light, it's easy to see how light and shadow are integral to this particular style of needlework. In order to keep that translucent quality in the finished product, the finished boutis must be set into the surrounding fabric in a way that keeps both front and back of the boutis uncovered. Linen is a natural paring with the white boutis, so in keeping to a more traditional look, I set my finished boutis piece into a linen and white cotton surround. At the time, I was uncertain as to how I wanted to continue from there, so it got packed away.

Previously, I had already set the boutis into the linen and cotton surround using reverse applique.

Recently, while reorganizing (yet again!), I kept it out and decided it was time to finish it. It will become a tabletopper, with the boutis medallion in the center and a quilted surround. Mme. Born sometimes combines quilting with boutis as well, so I assumed the "boutis police" would be OK with it.

When attaching the backing and the batting to the boutis, it's important to maintain it's translucent quality. Below I have outlined my method for doing this. (I had used the same method when attaching the boutis into the linen top.)

To find the exact location of the boutis medallion, I centered the wrong side of the backing fabric over the right side of the boutis. Using a padded surface, such as an ironing board or "The Quilter's Cut and Press" board, I carefully placed pins flush with the edge of the boutis. Next, I drew a seam allowance line 1" inside the perimeter. (The 1" distance was just a safety measure in case I had goofed up on the placement.)

Next the center is cut out along that line. When ready to applique, it gets trimmed down to the normal 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Attaching the batting follows the same procedure, and then gets basted to the wrong side of the boutis/linen top. Once basted into place, all of the excess batting is trimmed away.

To complete the quilt sandwich, the prepped backing is centered over top of the batting and the boutis linen top and hand appliqued into place.


All 3 layers of the tabletopper are sandwiched, the boutis is still translucent, and it's ready to be quilted.

Boutis: Traditional French Needlework

" Piqûre de Marseilles" or "Boutis" is a traditional French hand stitched and corded needlework technique, which uses embroidery stitches to create intricate channels that will later be stuffed with yarn, thereby creating a raised design with three layers. It's origins, and it's name, can be traced to the port of Marseilles in southern France to the 15th century. Traditional boutis was a technique invented to embellish otherwise plain white cotton with intricately patterned channels that would later be stuffed with a plump white yarn to give it relief. The resulting corded whitework created an elegant, embossed textile that was much sought after. Not only was it aesthetically appealing, but it also provided warmth and absorbency, so could be used for bed coverings, toilette linens (like towels), clothing items, home decor, etc. The first two photos below are from the collection of Mme. Monique Alphand, a well known French expert and collector of antique t

Amish Hand Quilting in France with Esther Miller

Esther Miller, was born into an Amish family in the U.S., and now lives in Germany where she has for many years taught the techniques and methods of Amish hand quilting to anyone interested in learning these skills. As a child, she would closely watch as the women of her community worked together on a quilt, and eventually she was rewarded with a needle of her own and encouraged to join the group. Through the years, she has mastered these skills and techniques and now generously shares them with anyone who has a genuine desire to learn. Esther Miller in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace France. An example of her own work, Esther brings this intricately and perfectly hand stitched wall quilt to class as inspiration for her students. Last week, at the "European Meeting of Patchwork" in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines, in Alsace France, www.patchwork-europe.com , I had the privilege of taking a 2 day workshop with Esther. The Amish quilting method requires a free-standing simple

Blocking and Squaring Boutis

The door of her cage has been opened. She is free to fly off and find her destiny. After many months of hand stitching and then many more months of cording, my little "colibri" is ready to set off on her own. As this was my first attempt at designing so large a boutis piece, it was a learning curve. All of the tight swirls, curls and circles are a great deal more difficult and time consuming to cord then are the longer more gentle channels. Maintaining an even tension is absolutely necessary throughout the process, so patience comes in very handy when doing the cording. The process of stitching and cording a work of boutis subjects the fabric to a lot of handling and manipulation that can distort the design. For this reason, once all of the stitching and cording is complete, the boutis must be washed, blocked and squared. The first step of washing is to remove all traces of the marking pencil as well as any soil that may have collected over the many months of working w

Marjorie's Busy CornerMay 7, 2014 at 12:33 PM
oh wow!!!! This is. Beautiful!!!
MonicaMay 7, 2014 at 4:05 PM
Wow, that's quite a tricky process! But it certainly worked beautifully. :D

Are you planning to hand quilt it too? I love the fabric you have chosen for it, I'm very interested to see what's next!
needle and nestMay 7, 2014 at 9:30 PM
First of all, I'm in awe once again over the intricacies of the boutis process. And second, I love that you found a way to finish an older project rather than let it languish in a drawer. I can't wait to see how it turns out!
KarenMay 22, 2014 at 11:47 AM
Beautiful! I'll be anxious to see it totally quilted and finished.

Seams French

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