My BFF asked me to post a question for her. She wants to add some bead embellishments to her quilt and is wondering at what point do you add the beads. Before quilting or after? And when sewing them on, how do you do it? Do you use a quilter's knot?

any info you can share for me about this will be greatly appreciated!

that would definately be the very last thing , and how, not sure, never done it,

If the quilt is being machine quilted, then place beads or other embellishments on AFTER quilting. However, some parts of an "art quilt" may already have embellishments on them and so, hand quilting would be needed so that those beads, etc. could be carefully worked around.

Quilter's knot? That is used when hand quilting... yes, you need to 'bury the knot" firmly under the surface, so that the quilting doesn't become undone.

Good luck.

i made a crazy/string quilt for my dtr. and embroideried over all the seams. i did add some buttons/beads but i added them before i put the whole quilt top together. BTW my dtr says those buttons really hurt if you happen to scoot across one. looking back i probably should not have added anything that would scratch to a quilt for the bed.

I have done beading on quilts and did after the quilt was quilted. I did a quilting knot, and also an extra small stitch before starting beading to make sure the end didn't pull out, and beads come off quilt. It is important to use a strong thread such as the nemo thread for beading.

After quilting and binding add your embellishments. Quilters knot works well

Thanks everyone! You are the best :thumbup: