Yes, you can use stitches instead of tying. I know some folks use bar tacks (looks like the end of the button hole). Some machines have fancy satin type stitches, such as squares, triangles or circles that are joined with straight stitching. You can do a single iteration of that stitch. My machine will let me program the one off, so it makes it easy. My machine also has a fix stitch, so I did a fix, circle, fix then just clipped the thread. It was for a small purse.