This wholecloth quilts tutorial is part of the series
1 Design – 5 Quilting Techniques.
The top of a wholecloth quilt is a single piece of fabric – no piecing or appliques.
The design must be transferred to the top then the marked fabric is layered with batting and backing and the sandwich is quilted.
A wholecloth quilt is about color and texture – one color and a lot of texture; it’s simple and elegant.
Prepare the fabric
If you have a design that you think it could be distorted by the shrinkage of fabric after washing, then you have to pre-wash all the fabrics used, including the batting; or use a batting that doesn’t shrink (like polyester).
After washing, starch the fabric. A stiff fabric is easier to mark and the quilting will be easier as well.
For the design below, prewashing is not absolutely necessary.
Material List
-top fabric, batting, backing :16”x 16”
– If you want to give more definition to the quilt design, you could use a thick batting or even 2 layers of batting. For small quilts, 2 layers of batting should not cause trouble.
Download the design
To assemble the pattern, cut on the dashed line of the first page and tape it to the second page.
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| -click on the picture to download the design- |
Transfer the design onto fabric; as I don’t have a lightbox, I taped the paper pattern onto a window then I taped the fabric over it.
Using a washable marker (I used one from this box), transfer the design onto fabric.
Quilting
Then layer the top fabric with batting and backing and quilt as desired.
The small quilts are quick and easy projects.
This one below was a quick project because I quilted following the design on the fabric.
Click on the picture to see details of this quilt.
You could call this “Addiction”!
very pretty and a great way to practice machine quilting
Wow, Geta! I'll have to give this a try. It looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
I'm very excited! I love this idea and can't wait for more!
xo -E
It looks wondeful.Thanks!
This is wonderful. Thanks for the tut.
this seems plenty complicated for me! Love the idea of a whole cloth quilt and it'll be fun to see all the ideas you have, thanks.
Thanks for the information on the marking pens. Have not heard of these before. Will give it a go. I like your article on wholecloths. Already started one a few months ago, but wish I had used marking pens instead of the pounce chalk.
fascinating and a great clear tutorial………….thank you : )
Lyn
Wow ! It looks amazing !!! I will try ist soon . I think must try it !!! Thank you very much . Greetings from Austria , Heidi
How very generous of you, Geta, to share this with us. This is just what I needed to get back into free motion quilting.
Looks great – I will be back next week. 🙂
It looks and sounds so easy…
The Circles wholecloth, was the fabric already Marbled in various shades of pink or did you colour it. I notice some of the fabric is white while others parts are pink.
Beautiful Quilt Geta. Would love to make something like this
These look amazing. I love the idea of using a floral print fabric and outlining the image and filling in the other areas. There are such beautiful fabrics in the world to whole cloth quilt. I'll have to add it to my to do list.
Your quilts are just beautiful! I especially love the bigger ones, but I think my favorite one is the peachy one and the big flowers. Just gorgeous!
Thank you for the tutorial. I look forward to seeing others. Your designs are so lovely. Just a tip: I am a hand dyer and sometimes my fabrics are too dark to transfer the design to the front, as I cannot see through the fabric.
If your design is not too complicated and is large, you can trace the design *IN REVERSE from your paper pattern onto a featherweight fusible like this one with a med Sharpie pen. Fuse this to the reverse side of your quilt top :
http://www.pellonprojects.com/products/1042-911ff-pellon-fusible-featherweight.aspx
Using a contrasting thread (like yellow on red fabric), stitch on the reverse side with very large basing stitches. Flip over to the front and stitch the design. Turn over to the front trace slightly beside the basted stitches with a chalk pencil or marking tool. You can also trace the pattern *right side up* onto a water soluble stabilizer and sew it to the top of your quilt sandwich with your stabilizer on the top. Once the outline of the main motif is sewn (here, the flower), you can use a spray bottle to mist the stabilizer and remove it from where you stitched.Finish the free motion quilting as usual. I have used both of these successfully. Good luck.
Thank you for all the tips, Quilting Innovations!
I like the idea of using fusible interfacing. After you fuse it to the back of the fabric, you could stitch the design with water soluble thread. No need to trace the pattern on the front fabric.
And the water soluble stabilizer is a great idea too.
These would be great tips for "Quilter's Favorites". I hope you will join us. Do you have a blog ?
Niesamowite dzieła… jestem zdumiona.
Pozdrawiam
This looks like so mutch fun, I have to try it out. Thank you
I've never made a wholecloth quilt, but this makes me want to give it a try. Although white wholecloth is elegant and pretty much beyond compare, using color is very appealing.
Great Geta as always i am a big fan of yours , my doughter is a new fan now.
nice tutorial, thank u
Thank you Geta – I enjoyed this – and especially looking how you made those wholecloth quilts using the pattern on the fabric!
As always, beautiful work with beautiful fabric and beautiful stitches. This is a super idea that I think I will pass on to my machine quilting students – point them to your blog and stitch up a sample to show them. I think they will be inspired by your work!
Geta, thanks for the easy following tutorial.
Geta, you have the most beautiful quilts I have ever seen. They are simply amazing. Thank you for sharing. ellaruth