length of ties on tied quilt
 

While on vacation, my aunt has gotten me to help her [read as... I work, she watches] make a tied quilt for her twin bed. She wanted it to reach to the floor, so it took up every bit of the high loft queen batt I ordered. I've never tied a quilt before and my elderly aunt has only done one 30+ yrs. ago. She insisted on two strands of sport weight yarn. The batt requires 4" quilting and the stripe repeat of the fabric just happens to be 4.25". So the yarn is sewn in a 4.25 grid. I'm snipping those in half to do the ties. I've got about half of the ties done, but am not sure if they should be trimmed back. How long do you leave your tied ends? Here's a pic of the progress
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My ties are about 1" - 1.25" in length, but I don't use yarn. I use crochet thread or embroidery floss doubled, so there are 4 threads in the knot. I have seen shorter, and I have seen longer. I think it is a matter of personal preference, as long as the knot is secure. I don't know how to exactly describe the knot that I use, but the needle does the work, and the tying takes place before the cutting, resulting in almost no waste -- just what is left on the needle at the end when it isn't long enough to do any more.

Dayle

Its your prefernence. I like mine shorter.

I used to tie quilts with yarn & I made little pom-pom kind of things that I tied into the knot. I kept my ties fairly short, tho. An inch or so, I think.

it's a personal choice- ask your aunt how long she wants them. they look fine from the picture. one concern though- you said the batting is one that needs to be quilted every 4"- doing the tied technique you have long (much longer than 4") channels running down the quilt---the ties are every 4" across- but not down- so when it is laundered there is a chance the batting will separate & have clumpy (pulled/separated) batting. i have only tied quilts with batts that specifically say good for tied quilts- and they usually have a scrim and allow a larger area- so i'm just guessing here- but it seems like you would need to off-set each row- so you have ties 4" apart in both directions- like starting the first row at 4" from edge- then the next row 2" from edge-then every 4" so those ties are inbetween the first row- then next back to the same as first---
there are probably people here who do them all the time & will tell you your's will be fine- i'm just thinking of the quilt a friend quilted -she didn't want lines across- just quilted channels down about 3" apart- after the quilt had been washed a few times she started noticing that the batting was bunching up becoming clumps with some areas bare-no batting-

thanks All for your advice :thumbup:

I use DMC floss and cut my ends about 3/4" long. I don't want to be distracted by the ties, I want to see the quilt.

I just watched a tutorial and they recommended 1/2 inch, so I think it's what you like and are happy with.

I used to do only whole cloth/tied quilts for the grandchildren. I used the traditional poly batting. Have no idea what the recommended space for tying was. I made some of those starting almost twenty years ago. They are still in use -- washed and dried often. The acrylic yarn has become a little matted but looks fine. None have untied or raveled out. I had used my 6" square ruler to "measure out" the placement of the ties, staggering them "brick style." I've seen no problem with the quilts except that some of the fabrics have faded. The ties were cut about 3/4 to 1 inch long. I didn't know if I was doing it "right" or not, so I just did what seemed OK.

Another thing I have done in the past is use a decorative stitch (such as a circle, a little duck, or a star as the "tie." I just marked the quilt top and at each point, did the decorative stitch and went on until all were done. Then I cut threads. This worked well with baby quilts. Their little fingers didn't get caught in the "fuzzies."

I use heavy weight crochet thread and cut the ties about 1/2 inch long. I also use the surgeon's knot to make the ties.