Wednesday, February 6, 2013

New Battings Make Tied Quilts a Good Option

Antique quilt from the Iowa-Illinois Quilt Study Group

The NEW battings don't require as much quilting (or tying) to prevent them from shifting around inside the quilt. Warm & Natural cotton batting calls for 10" intervals between quilting/tying. My ties are closer than that, just because it looks nicer.

Recently Sharyn mentioned having to repair some antique tied quilts because the batting had shifted. The new battings aren't going anywhere. This makes tying a better option than it used to be.

What do you think?

Read June Calender's comment.

11 comments:

June Calender said...

We are all accustomed to the way quilting changes the surface of a quilt, usually in ways we find very satisfying. Tying makes us readjust our idea of what the surface should look and feel like. The antique quilt in the picture seems perfect with the knots, and many modern quilts would too. The quilt world adjusts constantly and I think this is a very good addition to our bag of tricks to make our quilts interesting and artful.

The Calico Cat said...

I agree with June, though I have never seen a "modern" tied quilt & thought, "Yeah tying was a good option." Nor have I ever made a quilt & then thought, O.k. I'm going to tie this one.

Maybe it is my own issue with how comfortable with the look of a quilted quilt.

Ruth said...

I've never tied a quilt, but now I want to. Our new baby's other grandma made a flannel quilt for him and tied it with embroidery floss, and it looks lovely. What i love is that you pay attention to the piecework, which is what I really like.

Paula, the quilter said...

I actually like to tie quilts. I use wool yarn to tie with as it will felt up into cute little balls when the quilt gets washed and dried.

I have found that if the quilt is shorter than the person under it, that person will wrap the quilt around his feet and tug. Do you know what happens to quilting then? The stitches pop. I tie any quilt I give to this person because he likes to do this even when the quilt is long enough.

electricdunce said...

I love tied quilts because you can put such a nice fat batting in them. And they look nice too, I also like to put the ties three or four inches apart. When my son was a baby my mother got him this really fat little tied quilt, we called it the wrestling quilt, it was a good one to put on the floor and he could squirm to his heart's content.

Karin

Sharyn Mallow Woerz said...

I didn't express myself very well, battings like warm and natural won't fall apart, but that isn't the problem. It is the quilt, at the ties that give out because the blocks are shifting against the knots. And hence my recommendation that ties be no further than four fingers apart.

Love those wooly pointy ties, reminds me of the wonderful movie the Point. remember the song "me and my arrow..." ?

Unknown said...

I like tied quilts. I think it looks great on quilts designed with squares, which after 37 years of quilting, are still my favorite quilts. It doesn't lend itself to all quilts, but neither does all types of quilting. As Aunt Jennie used to say, tied quilts are utility quilts: the kind to be used every day.

Unknown said...

I like tied quilts. I think it looks great on quilts designed with squares, which after 37 years of quilting, are still my favorite quilts. It doesn't lend itself to all quilts, but neither does all types of quilting. As Aunt Jennie used to say, tied quilts are utility quilts: the kind to be used every day.

Unknown said...

I like tied quilts. I think it looks great on quilts designed with squares, which after 37 years of quilting, are still my favorite quilts. It doesn't lend itself to all quilts, but neither does all types of quilting. As Aunt Jennie used to say, tied quilts are utility quilts: the kind to be used every day.

Sharon said...

I tied a quilt for my son 30 years ago, cotton fabric with acrylic yarn ties, and the thing is still going strong!

Right now I'm tieing my Gee's Bend-type corduroy quilt. It's slow and tedious, but I love the way it looks. I'm using a poly batt because 1. the top is corduroy and 2. the back is flannel. It will be plenty heavy and warm.

After seeing so many old utility quilts with ties that are really another design on top of the piecing, I've become enamored of tieing quilts again.

Pam said...

Like Sharon, I've had the experience that if the batting is too heavy & the ties far apart, the ties can tear the quilt fabric. The quilts I've seen like that have been pretty old, though, so maybe it was their time to get fixed up anyway! I have used the button stitch on my machine, the one you use for tying on buttons. it goes back and forth a few times, then makes a knot. I do it twice, to make an "X". Its good for puffy baby quilts. If not a baby quilt, you could co ahead and sew buttons on while you are at it.