Beads and Sequins on an Eight Gored Skirt

I've been absolutely obsessed with a sequined 8 gored skirt I am making. It started out with sequins, then I couldn't resist adding beads. Beads might make it too heavy. And I wanted the bling of sequins. I decided to bead each panel and then sew them all together. That way the project is very portable. So I have to be careful not to sew any beads in the seam allowances.

I learned from the first panel that it's better to start in the center and work out.

Each panel will have 2 beaded flowers.

The background is a mottled navy blue, more like the last photo.

Ohh shiny!

The starting point. My needle wouldn't go through the beads so I had to tack the sequins down.

At first I didn't have a beading needle. So I dug one up and things got a lot easier. I only had enough fabric for four blue panels. If I get through those four panels of this insane project, I'll get more fabric for the other four panels, either in navy blue or black.