When to quilt piece with embellishments?
 

What would I do without all of you? I have no quilting friends to bounce things off of.......thanks for being here and being so generous with your time and patience!
I am working on a Christmas tree skirt for one of my sons and his family. Just making it up as I go....
Today, I started working on the sleigh section, and as I was beading the gold edge of the sleigh, I started thinking maybe I shouldn't do any embellishing until after it is quilted? And now I am wondering if quilting it will make it all wonky? I am going to put a row of holly leaves or something around the outer edges to bring it all together...but I am second guessing my plan at this point! Please help! :)

Do you know how you are going to quilt it?? It is easier to avoid some of the beading to quilt it first but then if yo are able to bead it now, all those stitches will be buried in with the batting.

What you have done is really nice - -

I think one could get fairly close to the beading with a zipper foot -

Quilting around the designs does make it look nice on the back, too.

It may be that you will be able to put some things on "now" - but things - like a jingle bell, maybe - might work out better if added after the quilting.

Some of it might depend on how close you want to get to the design - and how close you can get with your machine's attachments.

I really haven't thought much about the quilting design yet....I imagine outline quilting, and the some loose swirls to represent snow? Will be doing the quilting on my DSM....good idea about waiting to attach the jingle bells!

No advice from me but gosh that's pretty.

:)

Love your tree skirt, and yes wait to do all your cute little extras until after you have quilted it. Keep going with your plan as it is unique and really cute. Rick rack might be an idea for the outside edge or some ribbon that is Xmas themed.

Really beautiful. I personally would wait until the quilting was done to apply beads, but that's me. My reason is that I would have to use glass beads to be able to iron the quilt top, but glass beads also break rather easily & I wouldn't want to have to worry about catching on on my needle, presser foot, knocking it against the side of the machine or table a bit too hard while maneuvering the quilt, etc. I've broken glass head pins before & they are a mess to clean up.

One notion you might consider are the hot-fix rhinestones. I've seen them on AQS award-winning quilts and they really look fantastic! I've already decided that I'm done with working with all those tiny beads after seeing the results that are possible with hot-fix rhinestones. So easy. So pretty. Yes, it's yet another tool that probably neither of us need (though some sites suggest you can just use a 350F iron, instead of the fancy $25 hot fix electric heat applicator tool), but thought I'd share the idea with you just in case.

Hmmmm... jumbo ricrac is a great idea for the edge! Thank you!
Hot fix "gems" are so pretty....I have lots of glass beads though, and I am trying so hard to be good and not purchase any more tools. This is being made from my stash....with the exception of the white background-it has a very subtle shine-it is very pretty in the sun, or, hopefully, under tree lights!

I've also done a beaded fringe before that might look really nice on your tree skirt (more beading ... just what you were looking for, right?!). If you have embroidery floss, you can make it yourself. You just run the floss back & forth across the edge & stitch down. Sewing the seam will finish securing it. Then clip the loops, trim to an even size & tie a bead or three onto the end (knot - beads - knot). Looks really nice & gives you a chance to use up some more of that bead collection. Wish I'd kept a picture. I'm trying to be better about that now. My current tree skirt has silver fringe to match the silver embroidery. Very elegant, but it has nothing on your beautiful skirt.

Lovely designs.

I'd opt for beading, etc after quilting - particularly if i wanted to shadow quilt the elements....but that's just me. Whatever you choose...just seeing what you have already done shows it will be a beautiful tree skirt !!

It is going to be wonderful

I would do the beading after. If you accidentally hit one of those beads, it could be disastrous; broken needle, flying bead into the eye of a pet or yourself or some one else. You could mark around where the beading will be with some marking chalk or repositionable tape.

If it was me I'd wait until after it is quilted before adding any 'raised' embellishments like beads, bells, charms or metallic threads. Your work is lovely!

Ok.....I thought y'all had my back!!! Did no one notice, or are you just too kind to say anything, that my sleigh section is on a different color background??? I sort of noticed it yesterday, but I thought it was just the light. Well, today, in the bright daylight, I see that it is NOT the same fabric! I just spent a panic-filled hour searching my stash, which really isn't that large, for the rest of my Fairy Frost fabric! Finally found it, all neatly folded in a plastic bag, that had slipped behind some shelves! I will wait until I have all of the sections made, and if it bugs me, I will just have to remake that section....or carefully cut out the applique work and applique it on to a new background and make it look like I intended it that way! Geesh. I will blame my poor vision....procrastinating on a much needed corneal transplant. Maybe it's time!!!

I did notice that one panel was a different color - but I thought maybe you were going for varied background fabrics -

Lol....no, not varied backgrounds....well, not on purpose! I will definitely redo the panel....it would bug me forever!

I see everyone seems to be more in favor of embellishing after quilting but......I am just finishing up a holiday snowman table runner that I have already quilted. Last night I went to add the little wooden carrot nose and button eyes and found out it's a real chore to get behind it and knot it without anything showing.....and this is only 3 pieces !!! I can't imaginer trying to bead something after quilting.... Although my entire snowman is quilted, so if your quilting isn't too close to where you're beading will be, you'll probably have better success. Good luck !!

Jeannie, I would LOVE to see your table runner! Sounds adorable!
I am thinking I may try to quilt just the top and batting.....maybe put a thin muslin on the back of the batting to prevent it catching...then do the embellishing....then add a backing and bind it. Maybe add some felt snowflakes that are attached through all the layers to anchor the backing? I don't want all of the knots/stitches on the back of the skirt, and I don't know how to accomplish beading without having the stitches show on the back.

I agree that you should hold off on the beading till after the quilting is done. But with patience and care I think you can get pretty close to the edge of the sleigh without messing up the beading. Love your skirt!!

Beading after quilting will be more tedious since all you knotting will have to be on the top....you won't have threads on the back of the finished quilt....I would echo quilt around your applique/beaded pieces,then do swirls outside of the echos, leaving you appliques free of quilting,thus no quilting over your beaded work.....great job.

Beading after quilting will be more tedious since all your knotting will have to be on the top....you won't have threads on the back of the finished quilt....I would echo quilt around your applique/beaded pieces,then do swirls outside of the echos, leaving your appliques free of quilting,thus no quilting over your beaded work.....great job.

I have no advice pro-or-con about before or after quilting, but I must say that this tree skirt is going to be a winner. It is so cute and I love snowmen, so that one caught my eye right away.

I finished a wall quilt that is highly embellished last spring. I had it quilted before I added embellishments. My LAQer made me take off a couple that I had already added. (buttons)

I do beading and other embellishments on most of my projects and it is better/easier to do your quilting 1st and then do the beading. Your knots can be pulled carefully between the front and the batting. Check out some of the beading articles on line and they show/tell you how to do your beginning and ending knots between the layers. It is going to be a beautiful tree skirt.

I did not notice the sleigh section being on a different fabric until you mentioned it. Just a suggestion- if you have enough of the same fabric make two more panels if you haven't already completed the other section of the skirt, then every other one would be like the sleigh panel. No one would know that it wasn't planned that way. That is going to be beautiful. Be sure to post a picture when you finish. Where did you find such a cute pattern?

Unfortunately, I don't have enough of the sleigh panel fabric and have no idea where it came from. I will redo the sleigh panel...not a big deal. It just doesn't have the same "shine" that the Fairy Frost has.
I wish I had a pattern for this! Just winging it. The gingerbread house was a BOM pattern, but the rest are just being created as I go. Working on a Nativity panel, then a gingerbread family and a panel with Santa and reindeer will complete the skirt. Long way to go before December!

Very pretty! I would love to see it when you finish it

beautiful work.

You are giving your son and his family an incredibly beautiful, unique Christmas keepsake!

I do this all the time with beaded and/or hand embroidered wall quilts. I even do it with unembellished wall pieces when I am going to have lots of starts and stops or many changes of thread color/type. I hate worrying about how to hide all the stitching inside the sandwich or how it's going to look on the back. I then do something simple (usually SID or grid work) through all three layers to anchor them. With non-washable pieces, I've also used snippets of Misty Fuse sprinkled over the batting to fuse it to the backing with no additional quilting at all.

Quilting with just the top and batting gives me less stress and more freedom which generally translates to much more creative quilting. I use W&N (scrim side down) with nothing added on the back of it and have never had it catch or snag in any way. Try a test piece with your batting before you start on your actual tree skirt. I think you'll really like working 'backless'. LOL

Thanks, Ghostrider....good to hear from someone with experience! :)