do many of you tack your quilts instead of quilting them. i would be interested in hearing your thoughts about tacking. i tack mine because i live in such a small space that tacking is all i can manage

I've never tacked down using a machine or nedle and thread, but I've tied several quilts. Tying has worked just fine for me. I still have to pin or bsste, but I spread it over my table and that seemed to work okay. I tie at block corners,, and stagger the rows, sometimes also tie in the middle of a block, I try to use the pattern as a guide.

I haven't ever tied mine - but that is because I am not that keen on the tufty look.

I also think you might get some more answers, if you posted this in Main, rather than the PDA (Diary) section. Some people on this board never make their way here.

Ive tied them, but not sure what tacking is? Probaly the same thing?

I haven't tied a quilt in awhile but may tie my brother's quilt. His big dog sleeps with him and I don't know how long it will last. I can always make him another one if it wears out :)
For me, tying is faster and I like the look too.

I'm not a big fan of the tufts showing on a tied quilt. I tried my Trip Around the World for the playroom on the back. I just put pins where I wanted the ties and worked from the back. It looks good and was washes just fine. It was probably harder, but, IMO, worth it. I made it harder than it was by my fussiness. Every tie had to be diagonal, the exact same size and the exact distance from the seams.

Tacking should give you the same effect, but I preferred to work with the quilt as flat as possible.

I've never tacked a quilt. I used to tie them all until I got a quilting machine. I'm sure tacking would work good though.

have only tied, thought tacking was only for sandwiching, is it as stable as tied and how do you do it???

This is probably a dumb question, but what exacly is tying ?

tacking and tying are the same thing. recently i have tacked from the back and i like thhe looks of that. also i started tacking or tying with heavy thread like button and carpet thread. it hardly shows and it is so much easier when it comes to threading needles