What is a Wholecloth Quilt?

Learn about a very cool type of quilt and how easily you can design one for yourself!

A wholecloth quilt is a quilt created from one single piece of very wide fabric. Unlike a patchwork quilt, a wholecloth quilt is not pieced at all, and the design created across the surface is entirely made from quilting stitches.

Wholecloth quilts are not very commonly seen at quilting shows in America because we have such a strong tie to patchwork quilts. Traditionally these quilts were made by more affluent women who had the money to purchase wide bolts of fabric necessary to stretch across the entire surface of the quilt.

The first time I saw a wholecloth quilt, I was anything but impressed. I was in a local quilting store and saw a premarked wholecloth muslin quilt top for sale. I was intrigued by what it was, but completely turned off by the ugly design. Unforunately this is the experience that many quilters have with wholecloth: it either appears too difficult or too ugly to bother with.

It wasn't until a few years later that I ran across Karen McTavish on the internet. Her book Whitework Quilting was out of print, but due to intense customer demand has been republished. This book opened my eyes to just how beautiful and versitile a wholecloth, whitework quilts could be.

What I found by flipping through the pages was image after image of gorgeous whitework quilts that didn't look anything like the ugly quilt pattern I'd seen in that store. Even more exciting was the instructions on desiging my own wholecloth quilt from scratch.

Wholecloth quilts are traditionally laid out according to the following diagram:

A center motif inside the center is surrounded by borders that change shape or angle. This design and the outermost border design is usually connected by a large area of whitespace, typically filled with gridded lines.

This is of course not the only way you can design a wholecloth quilt. With all the shapes and angles at our disposal, there are millions of ways you can layout your quilt!

Here's how you can design your own wholecloth quilts:

1. Decide on the size of your finished quilt - You'll need to find fabric that is more than 10" wider than this size so you have plenty of room to work with.

2. Design the center motif - Using graph paper and a light box, start drawing a design that will be the focal point of your quilt. Wholecloth quilts are traditionally 100% symmetrical, so all you need to do is draw 1/2 of the design and then fold it in half and trace to get the identical copy for the other side.

3. Design your outer motifs and borders - Using more graph paper and working with some pieces of the center design you've already created, design borders to go around the center motif and border of the quilt.

It's important to use large graph paper taped together into one big piece the size of one quarter of your quilt. This aids you in marking your quilt and also allows you to see the perspective that your designs are drawn on.

4. Mark your quilt - Work in quarter sections, marking your quilt with water soluble pens. Make sure to take your time and position your quilt top over the design carefully before you start marking.

5. Decide on your Trapunto - Wholecloth quilts are only one color: white on white, so it can be very difficult to see the finished quilting pattern unless you use trapunto to make your quilting designs stand out. The use of trapunto will often make or break a wholecloth quilt because what's impressive about an awesome quilting design that no one can see?

Wholecloth quilts really open the door for innovative, original quilting designs. With a blank canvas, you can design anything and go anywhere with your design!

This really is an amazing quilting style that deserves a try at least once in your quilting journey!

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