I recently purchased a whole cloth kit with the idea of carrying it with me when I travel with DH on his business trips. It is only a table topper size about 45" across. I figured I'd handstitch it. But then when I started looking up whole cloth quilts there were SO many that were very ornately machine stitched. Loads of background filler!! Not just stitched on the lines provided by the manufacturer.

What has been your experience with whole cloth quilts?

I have not quilted a whole cloth quilt. The ones I have seen have been done by hand. Sorry I can't add much.

If you are looking to improve/perfect your hand stitching, I would hand quilt, as you originally planned.

All the one's I have seen are done by hand.

I've done a couple of small ones. I love the look of hand stitching. One lesson I learned--use poly batting rather than Warm & Natural. You have to wash it to get the premarked lines out, and if you use Warm & Natural it gets more crinkly than you might like, since the quilting is your whole design. Don't ask me how I know this, but trust me!

I love whole cloth and have tried it both ways. I got two small pre-printed squares from The Stencil Company and did one by hand, just stitching on the lines and one by machine, filling up the whole background. I love the look of the machine one a lot better, but I think is only because I don't like doing the hand work. They both look great and look like two totally different quilts. When I did the machine one I used two layers of batting to give it a trapunto look. I second the recommendation of the poly batting.

How about stitching the printed design by hand and filling in the background using machine quilting. Just a thought.

I have done a queen size white on white wholecloth and several others in varying sizes mostly wall or pillow size. I love the look and always do handquilting on them.

AHA--I once hand quilted a small whole cloth design. After I washed it it was a crinkled mess and the design was obscured. I tossed it in frustration. Now I know it was the batting I used. Thanks for that information. You guys are a treasure trove of knowledge.

Rita