My grandma taught me how to tie a quilt by hand with yarn almost 35 years ago. Today I get to share her method with you. It’s easy, don’t be intimidated. Just like sewing a button on but easier. Toughest part is getting the yarn in the eye of the needle but there’s a gadget for that. It comes free with your large eye sewing needles but buy extra for a few bucks directly on Amazon. Could not be any easier. Just a few easy steps and 2 key supplies will get you a finished hand tied quilt.

Hand tying may be the fastest way to secure your new quilt. That’s one of the reasons I recently hand tied something, got a lap sized quilt done in less than an hour. Needed a quick way to add more security to a donation quilt and I love the finished product. You will too!

There’s just something special about the look of a tied quilt. I’ll be using my Blushing Blocks lap size quilt in this tutorial. Make sure you grab the free pattern while you are here. The hardest part of the tying process is getting the yarn through the eye of the sewing needle but there is a trick to make this easy. 

Hand Quilting Methods

You can quilt by hand using hand stitching or hand tying. Hand stitching is replicating machine quilting but without a machine and takes patience and time to complete. While hand tying is strategically placing knotted yarn or embroidery floss every 5 or 6 inches apart to secure the quilt. There are many methods and many different threads you can choose from. 

Find the method and fibers you like or add all of these to your skill set and let the quilt tell you how it wants to be completed. 

Tapestry Needle vs Sewing Needle

For this project, you will need a large eye sewing needle. A tapestry needle, also called a yarn needle, will not work and here’s why. The tip of the tapestry needle is blunt, it’s function is to easily slide through blankets, garments, hats, scarf and slippers so you can weave yarn tails into your crochet project. Tapestry needles are not sharp, so they won’t puncture through fabric. If you don’t believe me, try it.

Sewing needles on the other hand have a pointed tip to puncture through fabric. The eye of the sewing needle is where you need to insert the yarn and that can be tricky with 4 ply or wool yarn. However, you can buy large eye sewing needles and use a needle threader that comes free with some needles.

It’s an old tool that’s been around for a long time and allows you to get thick material through the eye of the needle. It’s also important to know that larger eyes means a thicker needle. Thicker needles are more challenging to puncture through fabric. Just be patient and wiggle the sewing needle until it’s pushed out the other side of the quilt.

MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THESE OUT!

After you read this post, make sure you also check out Learn How to Quilt for Absolute Beginners. It’s jam packed with information to make your first quilt. It also has links and resources that are so helpful when you’re first learning. There’s lots of free quilt patterns that are great for beginners and all skill levels too. So make sure you check this out, seriously don’t forget!

Make sure you grab a copy of my free Quilt Planning Journal. It’s filled with graph paper and note pages to help you design at least 4 quilt or sewing projects! Use it to jot down ideas, fabrics, patterns and inspiration all in one place. Or create your own patterns and share with others. Pin in fabric swatches, photos of your finished quilts and enjoy your creative process!

How to Tie a Quilt by Hand – Important Tips

So I have two quilts that are being donated to a quilt drive for Southern California wildfire victims and they need to be dropped off in a few days. The clock is ticking and I want them to be used and loved a lot. In order to set this quilt up for success, the quilt blocks needed some quilting inside the block. I needed to secure the layers of the quilt in each of these blocks. Adding quilt ties with yarn is the simplest way to tackle this job and get this entire thing finished and ready to donate. 

Supplies You’ll Need

Lions Brand Pound of Love White (any yarn, this is what I used)

Large Eye Sewing Needle

Needle Threader

Clover Needle Threader

Scissors

Start with Bound Quilt

It’s easier to hand tie a bound quilt. A bound quilt is when the binding or the borders on all four sides are done. Each quilt is different, depending on the size and fabric used, but i would pin the layers with curved safety pins to hold everything in place while you attach the binding. Leave the safety pins on the quilt until you start to hand tie. Just remove the pins as you replace with a yarn tie.

You could spray baste but if it’s a lap size or larger you will need to use safety pins too. Why not save your adhesive spray and just pin the entire thing. Then attach your binding and then hand tie with yarn. Whatever method you follow, you will need a fully bound quilt for this tutorial. 

Needle Threader

Needle threader is made with a very fine wire, you want several of these on hand because they will break. They can be bought in a multi pack on Amazon for $3.99.

Buy this along with your large eye sewing needle. You can use the other size sewing needles for your embroidery floss or perle cotton. You can also use this when adding a crochet edging to quilts or pillow covers. Use the blanket stitch to attach yarn and then switch to a crochet hook and complete the crochet border/edging around your project. I’ll post a tutorial on this in the near future.

How to Tie a Quit by Hand (5 Easy Steps)

1. Thread Sewing Needle

First step is to thread your large eye sewing needle. I’m using two strands of yarn for my quilt. That’s two strands of yarn the same length, both strands going through the eye of the sewing needle at the same time using the needle threader. I use long thread so I can do lots of quilt ties before having to re-thread the needle. 

Place the wire portion of the needle threader all the way into the eye of  your needle so the plastic part of needle threader is up against the sewing needle. Slip your two strands of yarn into the center of the needle threader wire, opposite from the plastic bit.

Pull the plastic piece out, this will pull the wire with the yarn through the eye. It’s thick, so take your time and just keep pulling until you’ve made it through. Work with a long piece of yarn (two long strands of yarn) being careful to check it on the back side so it doesn’t knot up. This is where the needle threader may break so have spares. I broke one for my entire lap quilt. Here’s a great video by Fiber Flux on how to use the threader.

2. Insert Needle Quilt Top to Backing

It’s best to start hand tying in the center of the quilt and working your way to the outsides. We want the ties to be on the quilt top and not on the back. So your first stitch for every knot will begin on the quilt top, pushing the needle through the back of the quilt.

You will want a flat surface to keep everything aligned. Poke the needle into the quilt top and pushing it through the quilt so it comes out the back of the quilt. Pull the yarn until you have about 3″ of yarn showing on top of quilt.

3. Insert Needle Backing to Quilt Top

Now insert the needle into the quilt back, about 1/8″ from the original puncture spot, and pull through coming out of the quilt top.

Pull all yarn so it’s smooth and tight. Pro tip: It’s helpful if you keep your hand in the middle of your yarn string on the back side to keep yarn from clumping all together into knots. Leave hand to guide yarn from the back until it’s all pulled through. 

4. Tie Knots

After yarn has been pulled through and is smooth on the back side, tie the yarn into a square knot. Tie once more into a double knot. 

5. Trim Ties

Trim the excess yarn by holding the strands with one hand and cutting them all to the same length with scissors using your other hand. Mine are cut to about 1″ but anywhere between 1″ and 2″ is the norm.

Repeat until entire quilt is done, keeping your quilting in regular intervals going through all the layers of your quilt. You should be able to do about 10 quilt ties or more before having to rethread the sewing needle with more yarn.

Jordan Fabrics had a unique way to tie a quilt by hand using a continuous piece of yarn. It’s worth checking out but I’ll stick to my method.

You can also hand tie sewing project, like these Patchwork Curtains!

Recommended Quilting Supplies

Here are some quilting tools and supplies I recommend. I make a small commission if you purchase through the links, this helps to support this free content. For more info, check out Supplies for Beginners (Best Tools To Start).

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ABOUT SEW NIKKI

If this is your first time stopping by, welcome! My name is Nikki. I’m a weekend quilter, have a super small sewing space and taught myself how to sew and quilt by watching YouTube videos! Just print this post for the free pattern. My blog has free patterns and tutorials, focused on helping beginners learn to craft. Read more about me here.

The first time I tried to hand tie a quilt was when I was expecting my first child, my son Shelby. My grandmother let me come to her house and use her Singer sewing machine to make a quilt with special Waverly fabric that I picked up at a fabric store. I made a baby quilt that was a hand-tied quilt. She helped me make a matching diaper bag too. Hand tying is an easy way for beginners to secure the layers of a quilt. 

Because I had never sewn ANYTHING before, the quickest way and the easiest way to get a finished quilt was to hand tie. That’s a special memory I will always cherish. Spending time with the woman who taught me how to sew and crochet. She was so crafty and I miss her dearly. Here are the instructions below.

Got questions or tips to share? Drop them in the comments below!

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Want to learn how to crochet? Check out this post, How to Learn How to Crochet – Guide for Beginners.