I am hand quilting a quilt for a friend of a friend, Never having any classes on hand quilting, I want to ask those of you who are experienced or educated. Should the thread be pulled taut so it puckers the surface fabric or should it be loose so it just lays on top of the fabric? I kind of like the puckered look but not sure if everyone would.

I alwasy make sure it is pulled fairly tight. Not too tight that I snap the thread but taut. Are you using poly or cotton batting? I use cotton batting so there really is no pucker until you wash it cuz it's low loft.

I second what MNQuilter said. Don't pull the thread too tight and also don't let it bee too loose. It's just the middle of it.
I made the following experience working in a hoop: The quilted fabric seems to stay quite flat as long as it remains there. After removing it from the hoop - several hours later - the fibres seem to tighten a little, so the surface of the quilt becomes a little puckered - but only very little. The really pucking will happen after washing when you use cotton batting.

I agree, while you are sewing it in a loop or frame, you make normal stitches that are smooth and not too tight. When you remove the quilt from the frame, you have a natural pucker. I love it. Sometimes I wash my quilts right after because it puckers even more and looks "antique". I love to handstitch so I do it for the public too.

I agree with what everyone else has said. Not so loose that it sits on top of the fabric, but not so tight that the thread will break. I go for Medium - pulling it enough that I can see the thread settling gently into the fabric to make a soft indentation.

This is one of my earlier works. What I'm hoping to show is the tension that I used before washing. Hope the image helps.

The puckering occurs after washing.

i pull mine so it sinks into the fabric a little bit. I don't want it to tight or the thread will break.

thanks for starting this thread and nice comments, we all learn from each other!

I am still at it for hand quilting. I would like to do a rope design for the border and am looking for a design/stencil about 5 inches round to outline a floral design which repeats. I tried to send a picture with this but didn't work so will try to post it to pictures.