Need help on how to knot and bury threads

[ramona-quilter]

I have always been a back-tack girl. I have only done one quilt on which I left threads hanging so the client to knot & bury. It think it is time-consuming. But it is something I need to learn and I hope you knot & bury quilters will help me to understand it better. I am going to do this on a quilt which uses dark peach thread top and bobbin and a white striped backing. I don\'t want the dark thread stop/starts on the back. I\'m using QD cotton batt deluxe.

I want to knot and bury as I go. So here are my questions.

When doing SID, and I finish stitching as much of the seam as I can reach before I hit the belly roller and pull up the bobbin thread. Now, if I am going to roll the quilt, should I roll then position my needle in the same hole where I ended before? So then I would have 4 threads in the same hole or close by.

Would I then bury all four in the same hole?

Or should I knot & bury when I stop; then roll the quilt and position the needle in same hole or a few threads ahead of the previous bury?

[Quilting Heidi]

Linda,

I confess I\'m a knotter and burier! Time consuming yes but I don\'t like to see the backtracking and mine never seem to be right. You can either knot and bury each or go in the same hole and then bury them all together. I prefer to do that so I don\'t have to do extra work. A really helpful hint that somebody gave me was to have a needle that is threaded with a doubled thread and leave a loop hanging. Then you just put your needle in the quilt and before you pull the loop through the layers you lay the threads you want to bury in the loop. This way you don\'t have to thread the needle each time. I hope that is clear as mud!

[LynnQuilts]

Whenever I can start and stop in the same hole, I do, then I will knot and bury all four threads together. I knot and bury all the time, and that\'s what I do.

[dtreusch]

Linda,

I always bury four threads at once whenever I can. Saves time. The Sharon Schamber network has a free video on burying threads. She show how to bury 4 threads at once, bury 2 threads, and how to bury the threads when the bobbin runs out. It\'s really worth the time to watch.

Heidi - Great tip. I love it!! Much better than trying to thread the needle every time or using the self threading needles.

Debbi

[JenMcManus]

Linda,

I\'m a knot and bury type, but not all four at once. I don\'t know why, but I end a line of stitching by knotting and burying, then start again by knotting and burying in the same hole. I do use the dental flosser loop things for threading the needle. These make it really easy to thread.

Also, I do all my k & b-ing as I go, because I don\'t want to have to go back when the quilting is done to do it. It\'s too hard to find all those threads!

Good luck,

Jen

[Hollyrw]

I tack and bury. After I do a couple little stitches, I pull the bobbin thread up and cut both threads with enough of a tail to thread them on a darning needle and bury them. The only time I actually tie a knot is when the bobbin thread runs out.

As far as your other question, I carefully roll the quilt with the needle down moving the machine at the same time so I don\'t have a stop/start.

[bobbi]

Linda:

I agree that it\'s pretty time consuming, so don\'t know if I\'ll be doing that. Karen McTavish has a section on it in her book "Quilting for Show" It was my first purchase, even before my machine. (Silly me! didn\'t know it would take so long to get up to speed!) It\'s a really informative book, and there\'s a DVD with it so you can see it in action.

[ramona-quilter]

Wow, this is such great info. Thank you everybody.

I confess that I tried to do knot and bury and found it so frustrating. I was using one of those needles with the "easy threader slot". Not for me. It took so long to get the threads into the hole and I never got them to stay in there.

I like Heidi\'s idea of having a having a knotted thread on a needle ready to capture the loose threads and pull them thru the hole after I knot them.

I will have to check out the Sharon Schamber video. I don\'t have Karen McT\'s Show yet but it is on my list.

[quiltmonkey]

Heidi, I am trying to stay in the habit of knotting and burying but did not know the trick about having the thread looped through the needle already. Thanks for the tip. Now you are my ultmate bestest friend in the whole wide world for ever and ever.

PS: How long is the double looped thread in the needle? Does it continually stay in there (the eye) all the time? Does it ever slip out?

[Quilting Heidi]

Shannon,

I can\'t take full credit for the idea...a friend of mine shared it and I was like duh! It is wonderful. You can use an old trick I use from my embroidery days with silk ribbon, I actually use Glide Floss and I thread the two end through the needle eye and then I stab the needle through the tails and pull the needle through just until it passes the eye. Then it won\'t come unthreaded and it doens\'t create a knot that will get stuck in your fabric. It does wear out after a little bit but I just redo it. The other thing I\'ve done and works is to just do a single wrap knot and not pull real tight and that usually makes the knot smaller than the eye and it doesn\'t get in my way.

[Nadia Wilson]

I knot and bury my thread all the time too. I have a piece of magnetic strip on the front of my Millennium face plate near the top and I have a large eye needle there all the time ready to go for this purpose. The key is to use one of those large eye needles...this is how I was taught and it goes pretty fast for me now.

[Jeanette]

What a coincidence this thread is. I just came in from quilting for a bite of lunch and checked the posts. I had just finished knotting and burying threads and was musing about why some people make such a big issue of not doing it. A chef doesn\'t send his dish out to the customers with food dribbling off the edge of the plate and we are also artists or craftsmen and presentation should be part of our service. I am not a world-class quilter who commands top dollar but

I take too much pride in what I do to send a quilt home with threads dribbling off the top. I use the open-eye needle and pull up my tall stool and admire or critique the work while doing the loose ends and just enjoy sitting for a spell looking at something pretty. When I lose the enjoyment of doing this then I will hang it up.

[Katydids]

Oh Jeanette, that is great! "with food dribbling off the plate or threads dribbling off the quilt":P:D

I feel the same way! You took the words right out of my mouth about the pride and craftsmanship.

Patty

[Judi]

Great posts!! And thanks Heidi for sharing the hint of having the extra needle already threaded with a loop! Plus I should try my dental threaders too - another great idea - thanks Jen!!!

Most of the time I use the self-threading needle, but would like it to be a much longer of a needle.... I will have to put these 2 ideas to use and give them a try! So glad I read this!!!!

[CWBowser]

Thanks Heidi,

That is a great idea with the Glide floss.

Charlotte

[Quilting Heidi]

Charlotte the thanks belongs to Nancy! She was the one that told me! It works wonderfully.

[ramona-quilter]

OK, I got lost. Are you talking about threading the needle with Glide dental floss instead of thread???

--So Needle with dental floss at the ready.

--Gather start/stop threads and knot ( 2 or 4 at a time depending on separation)

--Insert needle in hole from last stop with the dental floss dangling

--Put knotted threads thru the floss and pull thru quilt.

OK, now the dental floss knot in the needle will compress enough to go thru the other side and out and then I cut the threads but still have the loop on the dental floss.

I\'m sorry that I am not getting this. Anybody got a photo of the floss with threads? Or is that Sharon\'s video?

[Quilting Heidi]

Linda,

You\'re getting it more than you know. I use the glide floss because it works the best and really does glide through. On top of that it is strong. Ok when you pull through the needle threaded with the floss the loop just pulls all the way through and you can hold onto the thread tails from the thread you knotted and cut. Ok I\'m not good at this. Let me take a few pics. I\'ll post as soon as I can get a sample together. Hubby is out of town so I can make him take the pictures. Give me a few!

[Quilting Heidi]

Ok I hope these pictures are clear enough. Hubby wasn\'t here to hold the camera for me so a couple are a little blurry! Linda I hope this PDF helps.

Dental Floss threader.pdf

[PamelaA]

Heidi,

Thanks for the primer on the k and b. Up to now I have only been back tacking. The k and b does look a lot nicer and much more professional. Your method looks like it would go a lot faster some of the other methods.

If I use dental floss can I tell my dentist that I have been flossing?

Pamela

[Quilting Heidi]

Pamela,

I k and b as I go and I really don\'t think it takes that much time and I\'m a whole lot happier with my results. I do know some like Sue Patton that can do the backtrack thing and you wouldn\'t know but I\'m not in her leaque!

You can tell you dentist you floss as long as I can too! The dentist samples are actually what I have in my studio!

[JenMcManus]

Ok, wait a minute. This makes me nervous, but I\'m going to tell you a better way than Heidi! :o:o

It\'s the same method basically, but uses a dental floss threader (not the string floss) that is ALREADY LOOPED. You just stick the end of it thru your needle and you are set. You can load this up ahead of time just as recommended above, and it\'s sooooo much easier than using the string floss because it is STIFF.

I wish this was my brilliant idea, but it\'s not! I read it here somewhere.

Jen

[ramona-quilter]

OK, I struggled thru knot & bury on the two ends of my SID on the top border. I thought that it was so hard to pull the knotted floss and the knotted thread but I did it and it was a PITA. So I came back and re-read your post, Heidi.

Ah, HAH, no knot in the floss; put the two ends of the floss thru the eye of the needle. OK, now that is going to be much easier. Now I just need to figure out how to make that itty-bitty knot with my big hands. At least I have the mechanics of it. I am determined to learn that technique on this quilt.

Thanks, so much to all. And I see by the number of downloads (34 so far) on your knot-tying that I am not the only knot-challenged quilter.

9:35 PM Update, OK I did a row of Terry Twists and knot/bury on both ends. The 2-floss end thru needle to make a loop pulling the threads really was easier. I wonder about the wax, nah, it will wash out the first time....and for now it is minty fresh. :D:P

[Quilting Heidi]

Linda,

The advantage to using the glide floss is that you can pierce it with the needle and it forms a knot without really making a knot! LOL now that makes sense right? If your dental floss is long enough you can just thread the two ends through and not do a knot and it usually won\'t unthread. You do have to allow a little more. I\'m glad it made sense.

[quiltmonkey]

Hey I found something yesterday that worked for me, too. I found the "Tapestry needle threader" it has a big hole in it. I tried it last night on my quilt. You slide it through the eye, drop the thread in the big hole and pull the thread through. Worked terrific for me! $1.50 at JoAnn. With the 40% discount coupon, under a buck! LOL! (kidding about the coupon but I couldn\'t resist...I am a silly girl, ya know...)