Tutorial: Quilter’s Knot
I’ve been gone for the past week attending my brother’s wedding. (You probably only noticed if you sent me an email and are waiting for a response!)
Because I was with my mom again, I convinced her to let me take photos of a few of the techniques she’s recently taught me. The first I wanted to share is called the “quilter’s knot” and it makes a much tidier knot than the one I’m used to. Normally, I lick my finger, wrap around and around, and twist it off. The resulting bird’s nest of a knot is unpredictable and, well, ugly.
Not so with this tidy quilter’s knot. Enjoy these photos of my mom’s demonstration.
To begin, hold the needle and the end of the thread so that they are pointing toward each other.
Bring them together to form a cross, then
holding the end of the thread against the needle,
begin wrapping the thread around the shaft of the needle.
Wrap the thread around the needle 3-6 times.
Grasp the wrapped threads snugly between your thumb and forefinger.
Pull the needle through the coil of wrapped threads with your other hand.
You’re still holding the coil between your thumb and forefinger as you pull.
And pull…
And pull, all the way to the end of the thread. When you reach the end, give a good sharp tug to tighten the knot.
And, voila! A tidy little knot will be left there in your hand and you can begin hand sewing with ease.
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Wow that is one shit-hot knot… I went off immediately to try it and it works! Who’d have thought we’d be learning knots on the www. Thanks Mal’s Mom!
Comment by Sue — 7 April 2009 @ 8:00 am
I’ve tried this before but with wrapping the thread around the needle only twice. I found that a little unpredictable so will be trying your mum’s method as soon as reasonably possible!
Comment by aneela — 7 April 2009 @ 10:45 am
How wonderful to have a sewing-quilting mom who’s right there and can show you tips like this. Most of us have to learn from a book or maybe even (bleech) a video on the web!
Comment by Leslie — 8 April 2009 @ 8:00 am
Seriously, 4-8 times? How on earth does it get “popped” into the quilt and doesn’t it leave a big hole? We wrap ours around 2-3 times and sometimes three times leaves a hole. We do use quilting thread which is thicker. Does your mom?
Comment by Dolores Sedore — 14 April 2009 @ 8:43 am
Dolores, I’m not sure that my mom “pops” hers into the quilt. I think this is just the knot she uses when she knows she will be able to hide the knot. I suppose that wrapping it 2-3 times may leave a small hole if you are popping it through, but in my experience I’ve been able to ease the fabric back around a hole once it’s popped through. Of course, any knot small enough to pop through may also be small enough to pop out! So it’s a tradeoff.
Comment by Mal — 14 April 2009 @ 9:26 am
I wrap mine 3 times. then take the needle and pull the thread through the batting until the knot is snug on top and the needle comes up where you want to start quilting. Then I pop the knot through. If there is a tiny hole ( usually is) then i take my fingernail and scratch gently at it and the hole disappears. hope this helps!
Comment by Carolyn — 15 June 2009 @ 1:41 pm
i wrap mine 4 times. i think it’s some OCD thing i do when counting the turns. my grandmother taught me this knot a looooong time ago. she called it ,”a tailor’s knot, ” and wrapped it 3. she was my go to gal for sewing tips. i actually had a question on monday about lining a jacket and thought about calling her for a sec only to remember she’s not with us anymore. anyway, that ‘s the great thing about the web, isn’t it?
Comment by jennifer — 3 September 2009 @ 11:45 pm
[...] again) and I came up with this gem of a tutorial on ladder stitching quilt binding. Perfect! Her tutorial on making a quilter’s knot also pretty much changed my life – I had no idea knots could be so [...]
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Comment by Julian Cooper — 20 June 2010 @ 11:58 am
Hey Mal! I searched “hand stitching quilt” and got a hit for your blog. I don’t know how I even got to this point in my quilting process without your wisdom and guidance
One question: do you have a post on tying off the thread? I’ve read about the mamma jamma knot and the ladder stitching, but what do I do when I run out of thread??? I look forward to hearing back from you!
Comment by Beeps — 15 December 2010 @ 7:00 pm
This is fantastic! I’ve been looking for this information in photos. Works perfectly! Now if I could just do this right so the tie off knot ends up between the layers….I get it to knot but I can’t get it to go through the first layer…maybe I’m wrapping the thread around the needle too many times, as the ladies above are suggesting…
Comment by Ilene — 14 May 2012 @ 5:19 pm
Thank you so much for sharing this….up until I read this I too was using the ‘bird’s nest knot’ and it is as you said unsightly but now I can have pretty little knots. Thanks again Sharina
Comment by Sharina Bonham — 19 May 2012 @ 3:02 am
Hi there! This blog post could not be written any better!
Looking through this article reminds me of my previous roommate!
He continually kept preaching about this. I am going to send this post to him.
Pretty sure he’ll have a great read. I appreciate you for sharing!
Comment by David — 22 January 2013 @ 3:02 am
[...] again) and I came up with this gem of a tutorial on ladder stitching quilt binding. Perfect! Her tutorial on making a quilter’s knot also pretty much changed my life – I had no idea knots could be so [...]
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Comment by Mohammed — 9 February 2013 @ 5:19 pm
Thank you so much, this is the first knot I manage to do as instructed!
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