Durability of a Tied Quilt
 

I love tieing a quilt, versus having to quilt the whole thing by machine. (I don't ever go with hand quilting.) I've done several tied quilts over the years. Unfortunately, I am now having to repair a few. The seams are fraying here and there. It's not hard work to repair them, but I think that this problem would not have happened if the quilts had been quilted instead of tied. The tied quilt top is allowed to move around a bit more, expecially when washing it. The next time that I make a tied quilt, I'll plan ahead and take a slightly wider seam allowance and perhaps not make a tied quilt that has a lot of diagonals. Any other suggestions?

~ C

I thought of using a blanket as batting, as it won't shift. Many are available in thrift stores in the summer. Once it's washed and dried, it will be sanitized.

bkay

It might help if your ties were closer together?

Similar to the blanket idea, it is helpful to use a stable batting. The most stable is batting that is needlepunched through scrim, such as Warm and Natural. The next most stable is needlepunched batting without scrim, such as Quilters Dream. The least stable are non-needlepunched, although even among those stability varies. Using a stable batting will reduce stress on seams.

The other thing that helps is spacing the ties closer together. This reduces stress on the fabric seams . Making deeper seam allowances and shortening the stitch length makes the seams stronger.

I have helped my neighbor tie her quilts. She ties them about 3-4 inches apart and where the seams intersect and on the seams cross wise.

I've tied several quilts, and they've been washed several times and have never had a problem with any seam fraying or other problems, have also used blankets sometimes, with never any problems, but I do tie about every 2".

Two questions you may want to consider ....

.... is the fabric causing the problem?
Perhaps it is too fragile and a wider seam allowance would not resolve the issues.

.... is your seam opening up, to create the problem?
Perhaps a shorter stitch on the seams would "batten the hatches", so as not to open up for the fabric edges to have the added exposure for fraying.

It probably isn't the fabric, but the closeness of the ties. The only downside of tied quilts is when washed the three layers shift, putting a lot of strain in the tied spots. I know this because I've inheiret damaged tied quilts. Set ties no farther than three finger widths. Tied quilts are lovely, never apologise for tying ;)

I love tied quilts and they are so comfy. I do think you are right about the wear and tear. Be sure to tie slightly apart, as in when doing the tie do not come back through the same hole. Keeping a wider space makes it stronger. Also increasing the number of ties makes it stronger. Have you considered putting in some primitive quilting with big stitches? You use a heavier crochet thread or can spend some more and get some fancy thread from a quilt store. I seldom tie but I agree with the above poster, tied quilts are lovely. They are also the warmest and some of the most sought after quilts at my house. I have a long arm so not many of my quilts are tied but I do love them. At times I even add some bright red ties to a quilt even though it is already quilted the normal way. Please post some pictures of your quilt. It sounds like your tied quilts are well loved and that is why maybe they need some repair.

OK the correct term is big stitch hand quilting. Sew beautiful!

https://www.google.com/search?biw=11....0._WaMHi0dJq4

It basically looks like a running stitch. I think I will let my 11 yr old do this on her next little quilt. Too cute! The less perfect the better. I will let her add some ties too if she wants.

That was how my mother's mother did her quilts. She tied them at the intersections of the squares on the seams crosswise. Her quilts lasted a long time and were laundered frequently. I remember my mother having to re-tie some parts of them but I don't remember the seams coming apart. She used old blankets in her quilts as she didn't have money to buy batting.

About 20 years ago I made a tied quilt for my husband using polyester batting. After a lot of washing it's turned into a lumpy mess, with no batting in some places. It may have helped to tie it closer together, but I still think it would've gotten lumpy. He won't let me fix it as he loves it so much.

Also, consider putting the ties on the back if they will interrupt the design by being so close together.

I did 16 inch blocks king size quilt in 1991 and tied it. twice! once with embroidery thread that kept coming apart. removed all that and used yarn. It is still going strong!!

When I make my quilts especially the tied ones I make a 1/2 inch seam. My seams hold but I have had the ties disintegrate. I have never understood the 1/4 inch seam. I think I see lots of good suggestions above.
Lynda

I have 2 tied quilts that have been in constant use since the mid 70"s. A few of the knots have come untied, but they still keep us warm, and hold up to several washings a year. The binding wore out and had to be replaced on one of them.

Thank you to everyone for all of the great suggestions. These quilts that are coming apart and ones that are used daily and washed weekly. The get a lot of wear, to say the least. I guess that we love them too much. I'll probably put them away for awhile, once I have them repaired. I'm not having any problems with the ones that are used just occasionally.

I'm not having any issues with the ties, which were done with embroidery thread, every 4 inches. The batting is holding up well. (I think that I used cotton with a scrim...I can't remember.) Some of the fabrics that I used were vintage, so they may have frayed due to their age, but most were modern day quilting cottons. I will take the advice of using a larger seam allowance next time. I think that will help a great deal.

~ C

Quilt Tying
 

Have you tried using the international stitch for tying? I use crochet thread, doubled, and space the stitches about 3" apart. The one nice thing about this stitch is that you don't have to stop to make knots at each stitch. For more information about how to do this stitch, just google up "International Stitch", using the " " around the word.

I was always told to tie the knots about a 4-finger length apart. I just measured and that is 3". I used to tie quilts a long time ago and haven't had problems with my old quilts. Just keep the ties close. Good luck

The first quilt I ever made was an Eleanor Burns Log cabin and that was 32 years ago.....back in the day when you tore your strips instead of cutting them neatly. I used a polyester batting and I only tied them once in the center of each square with 6 strand embroidery floss. It has been used consistently since. The ties became loose and caused some tears where they had been inserted last year. I used same color iron on tape matching the center blocks, cut them in small circles and ironed them over each center and retied it and, I swear, it's as good as new and you would really have to know what you were looking for to see them.

We always tied our quilts. When the outside needed washing (not every year), the ties were cut off, the outside was washed and then it was all put back together (after any needed repairs. Later we found it was better to have the wool batt encased in cheese cloth or other light weight fabric. That way the batt had less chance of shifting and producing spots with almost no batt left.
We always tied with wool yarn. Those ties got tighter and tighter the longer they were on the quilt.

I would tie at 3" no matter what batting label said. No matter what kind of batting you use. I never trusted yarn and always used doubled crochet thread. I only tie comforters, never quilts.

Which brings us back to what is a comforter and what is a quilt if they are both pieced?

Well...yeah...technically, a tied "quilt" would be a comforter. But these days, I think that most people see anthing that's pieced as a quilt and a comforter is one of those big, fluffy things inside a duvet. It's all just semantics.

~C

I have made one tied quilt, a disappearing 9 patch, and tied it with yarn and after several washings it's still in great shape with no bunching or shifting. It's tied about 4" apart.

Uses less fabric, and creates less bulk for hand quilting. Grandma didn't have a machine to quilt them.

If I am going to tie a quilt, I use a smaller stitch and a 1/2" seam to keep them from coming apart with heavy use (as in being dragged around). I also tie them closer together. Depending on the style of the quilts, I try to make sure I tie at every place the pieces come together to add strength to the joins.

The only tied quilt that I made was for my daughter. It was a "going off to college" gift for her, and I didn't have time to quilt it (didn't have a longarm back then), so she and I tied it with DMC cross-stitch thread (all 6 strands). We didn't really measure the distance between the ties, just eyeballed it - if it looked like there was too much space, we tied. That quilt went to college and back(during the summer), several times, then on to her "grown up life". She's married now, with two small children, and it's been (oh my goodness!) 15 years since we made it. It's still going strong, still at the foot of their bed, no problems with it. I guess she's just taken really good care of it.

I think the new tumbler washing machines versus the agitator machines help reduce bunching and fraying.

Tied quilts are so comfy. When I first started I tied quite a few with embroidery floss. They held up well for my 3 little boys, my sister, my brother, and one for us.
This brings back nice memories. I'm sure I'll do a tied quilt again sometime.

DH has an ancient(made by his ggm) tied quilt. The fabric is frayed, the appliques coming off but the ties are still holding the layers together.