I am down to the final week (I hope!) of finishing up my Sunbonnet nightmare quilt & keep debating about what to do with my Sunbonnet Sues/Sams to best secure them. They are 9.5" x 4.5" needle turn applique that so far all I have done is stitch around the outline for quilting. I picked beautiful 1930's repro fabrics that I really don't want to detract from with lots of quilting. I've been thinking about just "ditch" quilting the pieces along the internal edges & maybe add some tiny crosshatching in the boys' hats to make them look like woven straw in a matching Aurifil 50wt. Normally I'd use 50wt for everything, but that would require a dozen thread changes so I'd rather go with a thinner thread that doesn't have to match.
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I'd love to keep it all cotton & am thinking about
Mettler 60/2 cotton in cream & grey for the outline stitching. Or else I would go with a
YLI 100wt silk. Has anyone used either of those on a bed quilt? How did it launder? I really don't want them to show, but it would be worse if the threads snapped because they were too thin to handle a trip through the washer (my sister is great about washing on cold & using low heat to dry). I definitely am
not willing to consider poly or rayon thread, but am otherwise open to suggestions.
Also, if anyone has thoughts about something other than ditch quilting the applique that would still let the fabrics really shine through, please share.
Thank you!!!