I made a lap quilt a few months ago just for myself. It's not fancy or anything. I decided to just "tie" it instead of quilting it. I've done this before with smaller lap quilts and never had a problem, however this one, this weekend ALL my ties started to come undone.... is it my yarn? my knots? I don't usually pay attention to the yarn I buy (as far as brand or anything like that) and I used the same double knots I've always used before.

Has anyone had this happen before?

I took it to my in-laws (about 4 hours away) so that I could have it on my lap in the car - DH freezes me out when we travel LOL it did fine til the ride home and I noticed all my ties coming out.... :shock:

I have heard that certain types of yarn will come undone. I have only tied with embroidery floss (3 strands) or Perl Cotton. Unfortunately, I no longer have any of these quilts so have no idea if the ties are staying tied. My preferred method of tieing is to actually take a small stitch and then tie my knot.

when you tie a quilt with yarn the brand isnt important. what you need to look for is the number of ply. 4 ply yarn tends to untie itself no matter how good you tie the knots. you will have better luck with 3 ply yarn, like baby yarns.

Be sure to use a 'surgeon's' knot as well as checking on the type of thread/yarn you use. The surgeon's knot is a square knot and you do a DOUBLE twist both times. Is that clear as mud?

agree!

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vid...ying+a+surgeon's+knot&FORM=VIRE3

this is a video which will show you how to do a surgeon's knot on a quilt.
I went to my computer search engine and typed in "surgeon's knot" and the how to was the first one up. Have fun! <wave>

The other tip is to not cut your threads too closely. Sometimes, when you see a tied quilt, the threads are left almost two inches long or longer.
In my opinion, that is a bit too long, but 1/2" is almost too short. If someone, rubbing their finger over the knot, or pulling on one thread can manage to back one of the the threads out, then you need to leave your threads a bit longer. <wave>

Great tute! Thank you :D:D:D

Thank you all so much! I really appreciate the feedback.

Thank you, I had had the same problem and had given up, now I can do this on my present quilt

On that video, at the beginning she says take the right thread over the left but she is taking the left over the right. And then the 2nd time she's taking the left over the right again. One youtube commenter said theirs fell apart using this method.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeaIyAyg_cs

I have just tried it though I didn't listen to it.. I just watched her hands and copying them seems to work, I have pulled and pulled it and it seems secure.

So you're starting out putting left over right both times?

Some yarns are more slippery than others, which could be why it worked before, but not this time..... ?

Actually a square knot is made by putting (for instance) the right thread over the left in the first step and then the left thread over the right for the second step (or vice versa). What makes it a surgeon's knot is the fact that you wrap the thread twice each time rather than the usual once.

Yes I did. It worked for me.

Gee, I always called this type of knot a butchers knot. I use the same method when trussing poultry or tying a roast. It also works really well for tying ribbons on Christmas presents when you don't have someone around to put a finger on the knot. The double wrap holds the first tie in place until you do your second knot.

Good to know to use it when tying a quilt. I will use it in the future.

When I tie quilts instead of using yarn I used cotton crochet string as it doesn't come undone.

I am going to tie the quilt I am working on at present, I have a fleece back on it and whatever I try I cannot machine quilt it fed up with unpicking, I have taken advice from the board but nothing has worked, I do not have time to hand quilt, so lets hope this works in the long term, though not really a problem as my daughter could give it back for me to correct.

Some yarns that are "slick" will come untied. Try doing square knots. They are right over left, left over right. Less likely to come out.

I just remembered something my Grandma would use yarn to tie the quilt and would stitch the knot so it wouldn't untie.

Thank you Katey, nearly midnight here now, so off to bed must get some sleep before two days of quilting in between the other chores and caring of Mum, not much sleep then but worth it if I can get this one finished.

I won't tie quilts with yarn anymore. Yarn ties were my preferred method when I first started quilting. However, I found some yarn ravelled, some un-tied and some melted. If I ever tie again, I'll use perle cotton. I actually find it faster to machine quilt now than to tie a quilt and I think the machine quilting stands up better to repeat washings. I had some of my tied quilts that had shifted batting or ties pulling out after many washes.