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Montee Love

Montees, aka rose montees or crystal montees, are one of my favorite elements to use for embellishing quilted projects. These are rhinestones in a pronged setting with two channels on the back that you can thread a needle through while sewing them to fabric. Traditionally they've been used in dress-making, but lately jewelery makers have been using them like beads.

Used sparingly as embellishments they can add a glitzy, gorgeous touch to a project. Here's a detail from a crazy quilt tote I did a few years ago:

For the best effect, I stick with 3 to 6mm montees. I think the larger sizes are distracting and look a little fake, while 2mm montees tend to have too-narrow channels on the backing, and can be difficult for me to sew. I also prefer vintage montees versus new, as the old ones are a bit sturdier and were made with better quality rhinestones.

Quality vintage montees are hard to find. For the silk crazy quilt project I hunted around until I found a seller on Etsy who deals in vintage montees, and purchased three lots from the 1950's from that shop:

I've never seen high-dome gray crystal montees (bottom right), so those were a nice find. The garnet montees (top) are especially pretty, and have crystals with an unusual shape that add extra sparkle:

Stay tuned to see what I do with them. :)

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nightsmusic said…
I love those things. I had a skirt that had been my aunt's that was black and covered in clear ones. Made of silk, it had two underskirts and a tulle one beneath those. It was probably the most fun piece of clothing I've ever worn. Unfortunately, the tulle fell apart and then one of the underskirts and it was just too much to deconstruct it and repair it. I saved a few of the montees, but they got lost in a move :(

And I remember that gecko! :)
January 25, 2020 at 9:47 AM
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