To Quilt or not to Quilt
 

A 92 year old lady brought me this exquisite quilt top today that she made entirely of men's ties. She outlined them in the Brier stitch or "feather stitch" to showcase their beauty. The quilt top drapes over the sides of my King size bed and almost touches the floor on both sides. She didn't know if she wanted it handquilted or tied. Help us make up our mind for sure which would be the best route. We have looked it over and felt it's personality and we feel that it should be tied with embrodiery thread down the centers of each piece so as not to take away from the delicate stitching. What do you think? Or would you go an entirely different route and send it out to the longarm?

I can be of no help, having never tied one, but this is one beautiful quilt. I am sure there are some experts out there who will know how to advise you.

I would tie tie quilt.

I don't know how big a LA machine is but the way you talk it must be about 120" and isn't that the max of most machines. I bet this weights 40 - 50 lbs. It would be beautiful to quilt inside each piece and not cross the sides but the work on that would be unreal and expensive. But for this one it would be well worth it. I don't think personally LA ing would take away from her stitches. I would say quilt it plus quilting it would help to stabilize it more also.
It is a strikingly beautiful top. I would love to see it finished.

I don't know, but it is a really pretty quilt. :)

What a fabulous quilt! However you decide to finish it, will only add to it's beauty!
Maureen

I agree with Goosepoint ... my first inclination was to highlight the stitching already in place by outlining those stitches in a neutral color, or mimic the color she used in her stitches.

I would tie it, having tied a lot of quilts. Most everyone I have seen like this are tied.

I'm no help other than to say HOW BEAUTIFUL!

I agree that longarming is probably not the way to go, but tying it seems like it wouldn't be as stable (and with those fabrics, it might be important). If you could hand-quilt about a quarter inch away from the feather stitching, it seems like it wouldn't take away from the feather stitching at all (especially if you were careful with color choice for the quilting thread), and would still have the stability of quilting over tying.

This would be beautiful tied. What a lovely quilt. I look forward to seeing it completed. Thank you for sharing.

Tying is hard on the fabrics and may be too much for the ties. I think it would hold up better and be more beautiful if it were machine quilted. Just my opinion.

This is gorgeous quilt top! Personally, I'd like to see it LA quilted 1/4 inch in from the feather stitching to highlight that detailing. I might also choose to quilt one or two of the sections in each block with a series of small motifs. I have tied quilts before and wonder how you could best place the ties. Some of the blocks have a fabric division very close to the centre diagonal.
Whatever you choose, I'm sure this quilt will be wonderful. Please post again once it is completed.

It is a wonderful quilt... I think tying would be fine unless you think it may need more stabilization then I would agree with "Butterflyblue".

I don't really know ,My first hunch is that machine quilting would take away from the vintage look of the ties . I really have not seen machine quilting on this type of fabric,however I am certianly not an expert or ever well seasoned amature :)

I am waiting to see the last finishing u decide about this wonderful ties

Beautiful quilt!

Beautiful! I would worry that as heavy as the quilt must be tying just wouldn't be stable enough.

Beautiful quilt!

I made one of ties on a foundation and tied it in each block corner. she did a great job on the feather stitches

I believe I would just tie each corner. Beautiful!

Beautiful quilt. I would tie it.

The ties look like they are on the bias, therefore, I would tie it. Beautiful.

Gorgeous, I vote for tieing!

I would tie at each corner with the same color thread. Beautiful

It is truly beautiful....I think I would handquilt it around a quarter inch in from the embroidery stitches....though I know that would be extraordinarily time consuming. I just think, like Butterfly Blue mentioned, it may just give more stability to such a large quilt. Tying does look great, but I would worry a bit about it not being stable enough. Anyway, please may we see when it is finished? Please tell the lady her embroidery stiches are absolutely exquisite.....ah...to be so talented:)

Wow! that is quite the question. I really don't know what I would do.

Sorry, I would HAND quilt it! Tying won't hold up to the weight and might cut the silk ties depending on what they are fused to! They should be fused to keep the silk from shifting, being ripped, etc...
Machine quilting, might not work depending on the size of this, and if heavy might not be easy to do.

HAND quilting...simply outlines of the embroidery is my best suggestion!

I'm no expert, but in my opinion I think that tying would be more asthetically pleasing to the eye. This quilt is extrodinarily beautiful in it's simplicity and handworked embroidery and in its' old fashioned look, and I think that tying would enhance it even more. That being said, some have worried about the strength of hand tying. I'll leave that to the experts, and just say that to the eye, tying would be beautiful.

I would tie, to give it an old timey look.
Have a Blessed day
Ellen

I have a quilt like this -- the pattern is even similar -- made by my grandma and a bunch of her friends for a raffle. It has a wool army blanket for batting and flannel on the back. It was made in the late 1950's -- and it was tied. It is in wonderful shape and has held up really well. Grandma won the quilt in the raffle and now I have it -- most of the ties came from my dad so it has wonderful memories. My only suggestion is to not use a heavy bat (the quilt weighs a ton!!).

I think to tie quilt it would be keeping it in the mode of the other stitching. I love the quilt by the way.

I would tie it and not disturb that gorgeous hand stitching :) :) :)

I go with Butterflyblue hand quilt it with silk are a thread with a light catching thread . It would look so rich .

We have decided to tie it and I have it about half way done. It is looking good, I think. Will post a picture when I get it finished. thanks for all your input. It really helped me weigh the pros and cons and decide what to do!