Need help with how - or whether - to quilt this
 

I was given a piece of fabric that seems like the prefect colors for my son's dining room, and he said he would like a runner for his buffet. Okay so far. I was also given a lovely hank of cotton I could use for backing, and of course have lots of batting.

The issue is the top -- it is probably polyester, as I threw it in the washer and it came out okay. It is silky and embroidered (photo below), and will likely show holes, but I really do not know whether to try to run stitches close to the embroidery in some places, or just span the 20" width unencumbered. . .

To quilt or not to quilt? I do not see how I could tie it, what with the embroidery.

I am using Hobbs Heirloom Cotton batting.

I think I'd use a brown fine silk thread and do some machine stitching following some of the curves. Just enough to hold it together with the backing and batting.

Doggramma has good idea.

I just know it needs some kind of quilting to hold the three layers together.

Totally agree with posts above. I made window valences with similar fabric.

Sorry -- I didn't realize I'd left this out there without sharing the final resolution! First of all, I ruined the silk or poly fabric with the pin holes -- could not get them to close up once pins were removed (to envelope it instead). I did have enough fabric to make it again. Secondly, the idea from the quilt shop, which I followed, was to tack it with matching [blue] thread at the "intersections" in the embroidery. This was a gift, so I am not sure how well it's behaving in their house, but it was intended to cover a buffet and not get much actual usage. Can't seem to find a photo of it at the moment.

I wouldn’t quilt it at all I would get rid of the batting & use a light weight 2sidef fusible to fuse the top & backing.

The thing about Hobbs heirloom cotton is it needs to be quilted every 2-4” so I would use a thread that is going to blend in with the background and echo, following the designs. If you use a fine thread and small needle holes shouldn’t be an issue.

IMO, not all tablerunners need to be quilted. I'd take out the batting and add binding. It could be sandwiched, but I'm not good at that.

I was thinking the same thing - echoing around the swirls; it's a beautiful piece of fabric.