Medium here too. I do have the quilter add another layer of batting in the EMB machine quilts. It gives a nice poof and they're usually decorative ones.

Please do not discount dense machine quilting!!

Dense machine quilting can have a nice drape, bend, and feel to it.



My preferences to FMQing vs. straight line quilting and the densities of each,
vary according to the quilt, and what it is calling for!

As do my choices of fabrics, battings and threads used.

I am just getting into FMQ and I am letting the quilt tell me what it wants. Not a fan of microstippling and really tight quilting but everything else goes.

Remember the batting tells you. It will say how close or far you can quilt. Some are 3-4" and some are 8", so be sure you know when you plan your design.

I look at the fancy dense quilting and admire it but I never do it myself. I prefer seeing my piecing design.

I prefer a more open quilt design to let the quilt drape nicely.

As I mentioned above I have some antique quilts that are densely quilted by hand and they drape beautifully. I've never densely quilted by machine but from seeing some they do seem stiffer.

I vote for medium quilting here also. Less quilting allows for the batting to loosen and shift and those overly quilted ones with every inch quilted are pretty to look at, but wouldn't want one if it were given to me.

I have two handquilted whole cloth bed quilts-not done by me/acquired thru estate sales-and they are quite densely quilted, but do drape easily....I think dense machine quilting may have a more stiff drape because stitches are two threaded and one after another.......just a thought......

How are we defining medium? I try to aim for at least 1/2" to 1" of space in an all-over FMQ design. Since I can't machine quilt without using my Martelli gripper ring, I can't do larger designs where I'd have to smoothly move over a large distance, as I am always stopping to shift the ring.