Help please - On Topic

Good morning, Cheryl. Always good to have you drop in. It seems to me that Keepsake has wholecloth quilttops already marked. I love to see those at quilt shows. Polly

Keepsake Quilting sells a few of the tops, and the quality is good. If a person wants to try wholecloth quilting, I suggest very strongly that he or she get a SMALL piece rather than a bedsize top! Keepsake sells a round (with shallow scallop edge) piece with holly leaves and berries that is a great size not only for seeing whether one really enjoys doing wholecloth work but also for practising the stitching itself. If a quilter decides that wholecloth quilting is great stuff, that's great -- go for larger pieces! If a quilter decides what wholecloth is a bunch of hooey, there's not a lot of money or time wasted.

Another suggestion is to make a pillow cover. You will need a pillow form, 2 packages of bias binding tape in a color you like, a zipper to match, low loft batting scraps (enough to cover both sides of the pillow), white fabric (enough to cover both sides of the pillow twice), and brightly-colored quilting thread. (You can use a different color on each side to try different colors.) A lot of that stuff you probably have sitting around anyway, right? So save some money and use it up! Cut 4 pieces of fabric to fit the sides of the pillow, plus 2 pieces of batting of the same size. Get out a plain old No. 2 pencil and mark your stitching patterns on 2 pieces of the fabric -- with stencils, free-hand, anything you like! If you mark with light to moderate pressure with a fairly-sharp pencil it WILL wash out! Assemble the 2 quilt sandwiches, baste them, and begin with the wholecloth stitching. When finished with that, attach the seam binding around the edges of both quilted blocks, sew them together on

3 sides, and attach the zipper. Now go toss it into the washing machine and dryer! Stuff your pillow form inside, zip it up, and toss it on the sofa. I always make a pillow to test out colored threads I'm considering using since they always seem to handle and look differently than expected, and I never want to begin an entire quilt with thread I don't enjoy! It's also a very good way to test out a white fabric that is new to me -- they are all a little different. And another pillow? They're good on the sofa, in a chair, and on a guest room bed. My new sofa came with a pair of really comfortable but really ugly pillows, and I made covers for them!

I really enjoy wholecloth work, and go about it rather unconventionally. I work in small pieces which are later joined to make a quilt, and attach them with thin strips which makes a window- pane effect. I also work in colors, so the fabric is white, the thread is a bright color, and the joining strips are another bright color. My wholecloth work is thus portable, with a few blocks tossed into my tote bag along with thread, needles, etc. for travel.

As much as I enjoy wholecloth work, other people don't like doing it at all, so do make something small as a test before investing your time and money in a big way!

I ran across these yesterday.

Well darned if this isn't a light bulb moment. Love your ideas for whole cloth quilting. I've always wanted to do the whole cloth but decided not to bite the bullet because of them being so big.

Love the idea of your pillows. What a way to watch the up coming baseball season and quilt at the same time. Thanks loads.

Kate T. South Mississippi

The Stencil Company sells wholecloth stencils and preprinted wholecloth fabric. I have used the stencils and they work wonderfully!

Laurie G. in CA

Thankyou SO MUCH to everyone.

I have already suggested making a small cushion to see how it goes but she is adamant that she wants to make a quilt. I even suggested making her own small tops for cushions would be quick, easy and inexpensive. No luck!

I will try to steer her to a crib quilt, but . . . . . . her decision in the end

Thanks again - this group always comes through!