Quilt Finishes
 

I do not have a longarm nor do I want to sew the quilting by machine on several of my quilts so I have decided to finish each quilt by the tie off method. Question: Do any of you have a way to make the tie off stiches last "forever"? I have several kids quilts ready to meet the tie-off needle but want to make the stitching able to last several years.

Will be grateful for all ideas. I will be using an 18-inch hoop to quilt everything.

Donna Jordan did a video and used fray check on her knots.

https://youtu.be/yjH1KbOo73g?si=mjpInHDLmuWM-r2b

If you are planning to donate these kids' quilts, you might want to check the requirements of the organizations you plan to donate to. Not all of them will accept tied quilts (yarn can be a choking/snagging hazard) and some are particular about what you tie them with.

I second wesing's recommendation for Donna Jordan's video, too. :-)

@MaryKa totally agree with @Gemm ... always important if making donation quilts to check before you make re any requirements.

If you go ahead with tying ... , you may want to consider using embroidery thread. Years ago when I took a Quilt-In-A-Day class, that's what we used. We did a double stitch in x-format for each tie, then tied it off with a tight pair of knots. With the embroidery thread the ties were almost invisible compared to a seemingly big wad that often results when using yarn!

Aside from former advice, could you use narrow ribbon? You would need a larger needle and eye, but it might be stronger and last longer.

Do you have any decorative machine stitches available to use as a tack down? Little posies or something?? Some machines have a button tacking option that can be used, or a couple of zig zags back and forth can work too.

I have tied quilts often using a double strand pearl cotton or fine crochet thread, not yarn. One I did was on a comforter for a twin bed. The knots did not come untied. Be sure to use a square knot {right over left, then left over right}. Makes a strong tight knot. You could also put a tiny

Am alternative that many folks don't consider, but works well - if your machine has a round eyelet type stitch, you can use this to tack the quilt the same as hand tying... it works well, and is very stitch dense too.

I've tied many humanitarian quilts, and quilts for my boys. I've found that the "International Stitch" is most secure. Here's a video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEkHht2oJsg If you want to use yarn, stitch in the same in and out holes, twice. If you make sure your needle goes through the yarn on the second time around, that is more secure than a square knot.

This is the stitch that I was thinking about but did not know the name of it. I will be doing one dolly quilt size as my example quilt ad then take that so they can look at all of the different types of finishings but this is the one that I will prefer.

I should have said that I hate using yarn on quilts for the very reasons mentioned above. I know Momma used crochet thread but I don't know if she used this stitched. Mostly had the family come to the "quilting bee" and the kids played under the quilt making it our fort roof.