Of all the beautiful fabric arts I’ve ever learned, Boutis’ is the most lovely. When I first learned, there was almost no way to learn about it at all. A well-known French quilter,
Segolene Diamant Berger, explained what boutis’ was to a group of ladies at the Houston Quilt Guild. A group of her friends, all from France, showed off their exquisite handiwork..and I was entranced. I HAD to learn how to do this!
At first I was simply blown away by the incredibly intricate patterns they used. I talked to Diamont, who was such a gracious woman and asked her where I could get the patterns!
She said that she’d be happy to have her husband buy the book while on a business trip in France. It sold for well over $50.00 in the US but I paid only $35.00. The book was in French so I couldn’t read it but the photos were helpful and the patterns were everything I’d hoped for and then some!
Can you imagine my delight when she offered to let me come to her lovely home for a ‘quick’ lesson on how to do boutis? Her home was so beautiful… So very ‘French’. The book was Tim’s birthday present to me. I tried my best to ‘take it all in’..but it’s easier to learn by doing than just by someone ‘telling’ you what to do.
I did order an article from Taunton Threads (from a back issue) that was very helpful. And there was one video at the time that finally got me ‘over the hump’.
COTTON YARN: Peaches and Cream 1.38 white cotton yarn from Wal-Mart or
Amazon
NEEDLES: Fat tapesty needle about 2" long and Doll Needles about 6 " long--You can buy these at Hancocks for sure. You will also need quilting needles, though I feel like you could use a regular sewing needle and just baste with tiny stitches. And you will need white cotton thread.
Here are the supplies you need to do boutis’ :
- a pattern
- fine cotton like batiste fabric
- white 100% cotton yarn (like Peaches and Cream’s yarn)
- a quilting needle and thread
- a blunt tapestry needle
- a long doll needle (for filling long straight tunnels)
- an embroidery hoop
- a rubber finger guard like the kind postal workers use to flip through papers. (Gives you a good grip for pulling the fat needle and doubled yarn into the fabric and back out again.)
- quilter’s erasable marker
My second boutis' project, Ronde' fleur or Round of Flowers. It's not finished yet. :o)If you look at it and it doesn’t look puffy..just keep looking. It’s an optical illusion. Your eyes will adjust in a minute. :o)
Traditional quilting is simply the process of sandwiching a layer of fluffy batting (traditionally cotton) between two layers of cotton fabric and then holding those layers together with a very unique stitch, called the ‘rocking’ stitch. It took me a month to get that stitch down. It is hard to learn, but once your fingers are trained, it’s quick, smooth, and so tight that antique quilts will hold together at the stitching, even when the fabric has fallen apart years later.
In Boutis, you leave out the ‘middle layer of batting’. The test of whether something is true ‘boutis’ is that the light will shine through everything except the stuffed elements of the design. This makes it perfect for curtains, clothes, and lampshades.
Here’s how to do Boutis’ in a nutshell…
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First, trace the design to the top layer of a piece of fine cotton Batiste. (I just used thin cotton for my first project.) You can tape the paper with the pattern to a window and then tape the cotton fabric over it so the light shows through. Trace it with pencil or better..an erasable quilting marker.
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Then put the two pieces of cotton together and place them in an embroidery hoop. Now you baste, machine stitch, or use a quilting stitch to outline all of the lines of the pattern. You will be stitching leaves, grapes, petals, stems, and lots of filler lines.
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Then thread your tapestry needle with the thick cotton yarn. Yes, it can be done!
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Now comes the most challenging part. Push the tip of your needle through the grain/weave of the fabric at the edge of ..say a leaf (on one side).
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Carefully push the needle between the two tight layers of fabric (without poking through the underside) and then poke the tip out the other side of the leaf, again pushing through the grain of the fabric. (In quilting, this is similar to ‘traveling’ except trickier because there’s no batting to travel through.
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The hard part is getting both the needle and the double over thread through the close weave of the fabric. That’s why you have it on a hoop. Get a good grip on the needle with your rubber finger guard and pull hard and quick. This will ‘pop’ the eye end of the needle with the thick yarn into the weave of the fabric. Now give it another quick, hard pull to pop it back out through the other side of the leaf design.
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Pull the doubled yarn all the way through, very carefully until you are almost to the end of the yarn. (Remember, no knot on the end.) Pull until it’s all the way through except for the last 1/8th of an inch.
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Now clip off the thread on the side where the your needle exited the fabric about an 1/8th of an inch from the fabric. You have now ‘laid’ down two threads inside the leaf. The ends of your threads are sticking out on both sides of the leaf. Just leave them sticking out. They anchor the threads in a horizontal line for the moment.
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Go back and do steps 1-8 again, right next to the first piece of yarn. Each time you do this you insert thread after thread in a flat layer of horizontal lines. The fringe sticking out will be the ‘shape’ of the leaf or other design element.
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When you are finished ‘filling’ the leaf shape with rows of cotton yarn. Go back and push the ‘fringed’ edges of the yarn all the way into the weave of the fabric with the tip of your needle or a wooden stipple. If you work the threads a little with the tip of the needle you can almost close up the holes so that nothing shows on the top or the bottom.
Here is a link with the best
Video on how to do boutis' and Threads is the magazine that has a great article with excellent pictures showing how to do this. I own that magazine just for the article on Boutis.
Now you can do the next grape, flower petal, leaf, or stem. When you wash the fabric, all of the holes will close up tight and people will be totally puzzled as to how you stuffed all of those things without cutting the fabric (as trapunto does.) Amazing huh?
My first ‘boutis’ piece…a needle case for the tapestry, quilting and doll needles.
One thing that is a little bit different is the long straight rows or lines that are often used as filler for large blank spaces or as frames. That is what the doll needle is for. You can push that needle down long straight rows of straight lines, but you can’t turn corners. :o) Just pop out at the corners. Clip your thread leaving a little anchor piece. Then pop in again at the same place but start the next side of your square or corner. Be very careful traveling long lengths like that. Is it very easy to accidentally poke through the back and not know it. You want to slip between the two layers of cotton with your needle.
You can fold over the edges of your piece and appliqué them or slip stitch them closed.
I made these wedding ring pillows for my son Andrew, and wife Elisabeth. It was my third project..and easier to complete. I wrote about my boutis projects
HERE.
You can buy boutis’ pieces online, but you will pay a pretty penny for them. But now you will be able to appreciate what goes into a piece of French Quilting. I do hope you enjoyed this explanation of the lovely art of French Quilting. Be sure to email me if you have any questions.
Here are the links for the books and magazine article.
BLOG POST on Boutis by Postmarked Art: Great how-to pictures and list of books and resources.
is the name of the book I used for patterns for projects. There are so many gorgous patterns!
Marie Yolande is the quilter who does the video. Her website is a wonderful place to visit
Marie Yolande.com She sells kits for doing baby layette projects.
I hope these links help you get a good start!
Have a lovely weekend!
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