From Traditional Trapunto to Modern Puffy Foam Embroidery

Trapunto embroidery is one of those beautiful textile techniques that instantly catches the eye. The raised, sculpted surface gives embroidery a soft three-dimensional look, almost as if the pattern is gently emerging from the fabric itself. Although the technique has very old roots, it still feels surprisingly modern, and today there are several creative ways to recreate this lovely effect with machine embroidery.

The word trapunto comes from Italy, where the technique was already known centuries ago. Traditionally, it was used mainly in quilting and decorative textiles. The raised effect was created by stitching the design first, then carefully stuffing certain areas from the back to make the motifs stand out from the surface. The result was elegant, textured embroidery with beautiful depth and dimension.

Years ago, we experimented with a production method inspired by this traditional technique. First, the embroidery machine stitched the design while simultaneously joining two layers of fabric together: the main fabric and an additional backing layer attached underneath. Once the stitched chambers were created, we filled the space between the two layers using a specialized filling machine.

The process itself was quite fascinating. Cotton yarn was threaded through a hollow needle, which was inserted into the backing fabric from the wrong side. Using compressed air, the yarn was blown into the enclosed areas between the fabric layers. As the chambers filled with yarn, the embroidery became softly padded and beautifully raised from the textile surface. The finished result had a rich, dimensional appearance that felt both decorative and tactile.

In this blog post, however, we would like to introduce a much simpler and more accessible way to create a similar trapunto effect: using embroidery puffy foam.

Puffy foam is available in several different thicknesses, and for our sample we used 3 mm foam. The thicker the foam, the more dramatic and raised the final effect will be. Puffy foam also comes in many different colors, although in this technique the color itself is not especially important, since the foam will be completely covered by fabric.

Interestingly, one of our testers also experimented with using craft foam sheets (sometimes called EVA foam or foam rubber) instead of embroidery puffy foam, and achieved surprisingly nice results as well. According to her experience, the only difference was that removing the excess foam required a little more effort.

The process itself is wonderfully simple.

In the first step, the foam is secured in place and the embroidery machine stitches the shape of the raised design. After this, the excess foam is carefully removed. Once the base shape is ready, the top fabric layer is added. The embroidery machine then secures the fabric with a running stitch line and just like that, the raised trapunto-style embroidery is complete.

What we especially love about this technique is how easily it creates such an impressive result. The embroidery gains texture, softness, and dimension while still remaining clean and elegant.

If you would like to try this technique yourself, feel free to download the embroidery design below. And if this is your first time working with puffy foam, don’t worry, inside the ZIP file you will also find a detailed step-by-step tutorial that guides you through the entire process.

You can also explore more of our embroidery designs created with this technique here: 

Happy stitching, and have fun experimenting with dimensional embroidery!