Do You Prefer Tying Your Quilts?

To some quilters, tying your quilts seems “the easy way out.”  However, there are times for tying the three layers together and other times for stitching them.

Since my grandmother, my aunt and their friend Susie tied their quilts, that’s what I knew.  When I helped them make quilts, you might say I attended a “tying bee,” when they spread the layers out on the large dining table and tied and chatted.

When I began making quilts during the Bicentennial Years of 1975-76, I naturally tied them.  I continued to do so to make the quilts affordable.  Because it doesn’t take so long to tie, I could sell the quilts at prices within the budget  of more people than if they had been quilted.

However, I did quilt several quilts.  These were old family tops that customers wanted me to finish for them.  I enjoyed this, but I had to charge much more than when I tied quilts.  Admittedly, with the old quilt tops, that were hand stitched to begin with, quilting was a better finish.

Penny Halgren has a great tutorial on tying quilts if you want to learn more about this and how to do it.  Check out Tying Your Quilt.  She also had a very informative article on quilt tying in her free monthly e-mail newsletter.