My name is Charlotte, sometimes known as Ms Lottie, occasionally as The Slightly Mad Quilt Lady. This is my blog, where you'll find me writing a lot about my quilting and textile arts and a little about my family's life in a small seaside town in New Zealand. Haere mai!

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

How to tie a knot for hand-sewing

Want to learn the magic of tying a neat know when you are sewing on your quilt bindings?

I used to tie ugly knots.  Yup, being a mostly self-taught sewer and quilter, I didn't know there was a technique.  I'd get myself in a tangle and it used to annoy me.  I'd seen people tie knots fast and neatly but just didn't know there was a trick to it.

One day I got around to learning how.  I can't remember who taught me, but my knots are neat and tidy and look like a little bit of magic when I do it fast.  So thank you anonymous teacher!

I've taught a few people now too and it always makes my day when they get it.  So I ventured into the realm of video tutorials and I've uploaded a knot-tying video to YouTube.


Enjoy!

8 comments:

  1. yes this is how I do my knots too!

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  2. I do a round your finger thing - ends up looking much the same :)

    Art school is great - wish I'd come back years ago!

    viv

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  3. Brilliant and so easy. Thanks Charlotte, it's the little things that make such a difference.

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  4. Good little video Charlotte, this is how I do mine too and find it to be neat and quick :-) Not sure where I learnt mine from.

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  5. I think this is known as a quilters knot - one twist gives you the right size to pop through the layers for hand quilting.

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  6. Lovely to see your video, Charlotte. I remember the first time I saw someone do this knot. She did it so fast! It was really impressive. I asked her to slow down and demonstrate it for me. I use this knot a lot now but have never got as fast as my friend. It is sometimes likened to doing a French knot "in the air".

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  7. This could not have come at a more perfect time! I just started hand quilting a quilt and was having a devil of a time making knots that went through the bottom level but not the top. This knot worked a treat! Thank you for saving me a whole lot of frustration!

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