Has anyone ever used a dark colored thread to quilt a quilt using white backing? Is this even done? One of my quilting girls told me her mama told her to always use thread the color of the backing. Well, the top I'm quilting is the one on my avatar. Deep purple. And, my backing is white. What do you think? Should I use purple thread or white to quilt it?

Well, if you use purple you will be able to clearly see the quilting from the back. If this is what you want than it's my opinion that you could use purple. However, sometimes I am not so confident about my FMQ and I like the quilting to blend in.

can you use purple for your top thread and white for your bottom?

I did a blue denim quilt a while ago and used red thread to quilt it which looked really awesome, but at christmas was doing a red and green quilt with a black back and it looked wrong having coloured threads on the back so i did coloured on top and black on bottom...

need to get your machine tension just right though...

Two colors would be OK, too.

Unless your quilting is perfect, I'd go with what matches the backing. IMO, if a backing is a solid color and the thread is a contrasting color, the quilting really pops out when you view the back. And for me that means every little mistake is magnified. Mistakes (or less than perfect quilting) is not so obivious on the front because the front normally has more pattern to it.

I guess I should have said that I am quilting this by hand!! My stitches are pretty good when I take my time. But, not perfect by any means. I hate to take out what I've done and start over. Hind sight!!!

If you are hand quilting, you really don't have a choice for the back. Use what ever you would think looks best for your top. Depending on the pattern, I have used more than one color on my top. The back takes care of itself.

Its the top you see not the back. Use what works on the top and let the back go.
No set answer. Use what pleases you and works for the quilt and your machine.

I love to SEE the quilting even on the back. Even if it sin't perfect (show me one that is) I think go with the color.

I almost always hand quilt with a color to compliment the top and show on the back. I feel it gives me two quilts for the effort of one that way....sort of makes it "whole cloth" looking on the back, you know? Why shouldn't a quilt have two sides?!

Jan in VA