Prism99

I agree completely with feline fanatic.

I have frame quilted a couple of tops like this for my sister. All I did was repair holes (they will catch on the machine foot!) and occasionally, if the seam allowance was 1/8" or so, would stitch again to give a 1/4" seam. In some places I ironed fusible interfacing to the wrong side to reinforce an area. I did close quilting using loops and swirls with Glide thread and Mountain Mist 100% cotton blue ribbon batting (which is rather thin). At times I would place cans of soup on each side of the machine to help take care of fullness. The tops turned out great! Unless you are a quilter, you would never know of all the issues with the piecing. (In one instance, my sister left the paper inside a fusible applique. Most likely no one but me knows now that it is quilted. Washing helped soften up the paper.)

Edit: I did spray starch and iron the tops before loading on the frame. And I told my sister not to bother with the backings anymore -- to just give them to me. This way I can make sure the backing is square and straight, with even seams.