The quilt was pretty stiff when it was finished, but I just got done washing and drying it and it really softened up. That also seemed to make the quilting stand out more. The fabric I used was pretty stiff to begin with even though I pre-washed it; I think the stiffness helped when I was sewing the lines because everything stayed in place when I was tugging it around. I had to laugh when I was doing the quilting because I saw some quilting tutorials on YouTube where they were saying, "Relax your shoulders when you quilt" and I thought that seemed like kind of a goofy thing to say, but I totally got it as I went along. Between my tongue sticking out and my hunched up back I felt like I had been in a wrestling match at the end of the day.