Cindy's Tips
COOL SLEEPING...THE OLD-TIME WAY
How did our ancestors do it? With a "summer spread," an unlined (or lightly lined) quilt, often simply pieced and embroidered. (Redwork was a favorite technique.) Sometimes the quilt top was backed with a sheet, the edges turned and whipstitched together. Sometimes the top was left unbacked, and the raw seams turned over and handstitched, french seam-style. White, cool muslin was the main ingredient in these refreshing pieces. |
Sponsored Links
Brickworks
Main Menu
Your Shopping Account
See your purchases or log in as a returning customer here.| Lost Password? | |
| Forgot your username? | |
| No account yet? Register | |
|
|
|
| Show Cart | |
| What is meant by "tying" a quilt? |
 |
 |
 |
|
Dear Cindy, I am a beginner and plan to make a denim quilt from old jeans as my first quilt project. Please explain what is meant by tying the quilt. Most quilters here mentioned using embroidery most times. I don't really understand what is meant. Thank you, Michele Michele, I'm sure your denim quilt will be lovely! Denim is a heavier fabric -- and a denim quilt will, as a result, be much heavier than your usual quilt. That also means that it will be much more difficult to hand-quilt, due to the bulk and the weight. It is hard to push your needle through that heavy stuff -- I know. I've tried it! And you can machine quilt it, which is more doable, but even there you are pushing and hauling heavier fabric through. And the weight adds up. (If you do decide to machine quilt your piece, you'll want to use a specialized needle meant for stitching denims.) That's why 'tying' is often recommended for denim. Quilt tying is just another option besides machine and hand quilting. What it means is that you take even lengths of yarn, embroidery floss, heavy thread or even ribbon -- 6"-12" each-- and threading them in a heavy needle, push down through all layers of the quilt. Come back up, putting both loose ends of the thread/floss etc. on the same side. Tie a double knot or a special knot. (Add a bow after this too, if you want.) Clip the ends of the loose threads so they leave a little extra (called a "tail") in case of the knots loosening. There. That's tying a quilt!
Some quilters prefer to tie all
their knots on the UNDERSIDE of the quilt. (Many Crazies are tied this
way.) Most have the knots topside. It is important to make enough ties
on the quilt to keep the batting from shifting. That's why quilting is
there, after all -- and it's why you tie a quilt. You will want to
make ties at regular intervals from each other...often the best way is
to decide to make knots at each of the block corners and at least 2
other places inside each block. (Obviously, there could be more.) If
you are using an unbonded cotton batt, you'll want to make more knots
to keep it from clumping. Hope this helps! |
