Wholecloth Quilt

I'm sewing two quilts for Madeline and Michael's wedding in November - THE wedding quilt and a wholecloth quilted tablecloth for the signing table. I finished the wholecloth quilt a few weeks ago, and because this one isn't top secret, I get share it with you before the wedding.

It's quite hard to photograph a white quilt with white quilting, so hopefully you can see all the detail, it's such a gorgeous pattern!


The design is called Welsh Beauty and I love how it has that gorgeous antique feel - it's going to be perfect for a garden wedding at Clarendon House. The gardens are stunning, and they're enclosed with an old convict brick fence and gorgeous arches - I think it will suit the surroundings perfectly.

If it rains, we'll be in the conservatory and that's a relatively new building with not a lot of character, so we do need to fancy it up a bit - pray it doesn't rain people! (I'll have emergency decorations on hand, just in case!)


My original plan was to draft my own design and hand quilt it, but of course I left it too late and had to source a pre-printed kit and machine quilt it (never mind).

I spent roughly three weeks quilting this 40" square tablecloth and I fell in love with it more and more as each section was quilted.  It was worth the long quilting hours, the shoulder and neck pain and the intense concentration to quilt on all those lines. ;) I love it!


The design is super pretty, and I really enjoyed the quilting process. It's a gorgeous mix of feathers and cross hatching which creates lots of stunning texture.

I free motioned the feathers and I used the lines as a guide while I found my own rhythm of quilting their shape. I used my walking foot for all the cross hatching, and I went with a gorgeous silky thread to add some lovely shimmer to the quilting.

The kits are a little hard to source in Australia so if you're looking for one I'd suggest giving the lovely ladies at Oz Quilts a call - their service is impeccable!


Everything was going smoothly until the washing process - the blue lines are not easily washed away. The directions make it sound easy, but I've soaked and washed this quilt five times and I can still see the blue lines in places. I think they are darker now than they were after the last wash almost two weeks ago. :(

I did reach out to the shop owner again after the first wash to check what I was doing wrong, but she told me it can take multiple washes to remove them. Her advice was to just keep working at it until they were gone - I thought they were but I can still see them. Does anyone have any tips for me? I'd be forever grateful.

I'm going to soak and rewash it a few days before the wedding to see if I can remove them enough, so they are not visible on the day.


Despite the pesky blue lines, the bride loves it and that's all that matters right? She's brought a set of rose gold pens for the signing and they'll be a basket of peonies on the table as well, and it's all going to be set up under one of their big old trees so it should look pretty and romantic.


We've decided to start a new tradition and use this wholecloth quilt for all our special family occasions (marriages, births, christenings etc) and add a new label to the back to record which event it's been used for and by whom.

The first quilt label has been added and apart from another soak and wash (or two), its ready for the big day.


The texture is amazing, and it's such a gorgeous quilt! I'm thrilled with how it turned out, but I just need to remove those pesky blue lines... permanently! Wish me luck!

Happy quilting :)
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2 comments

  1. This is absolutely beautiful and will make a very special family heirloom. Drat those blue lines though! x

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Kay. It is gorgeous and the bride loves it. I'll keep working on those blue lines. A couple of readers emailed me so very useful sites to check out, so cross fingers :)

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