How to Tie a Quilt Using a Sewing Machine – No Hand Sewing Needed

Apr 7, 2010
Christine Mann

1. Decorative Stitches to Tie a Quilt - Photo by Christine Mann

Use a sewing machine's bar tack stitch or decorative stitches to fasten a quilt's layers permanently in place instead of machine quilting or hand tying.

A quilt has three layers that need to be fastened together: the top, the batting (also called wadding), and the backing fabric. A tied quilt is stitched together at regular intervals all over the quilt. The stitching holds the layers in place so they don’t shift as the quilt is used or washed.

Tying a quilt with a sewing machine is often the fastest and easiest way to attach a quilt’s layers together—less work than hand tying, and definitely faster and easier than stitching the layers together with either hand or machine quilting.

How to Space the Stitches in a Machine Tied Quilt

How far apart should the stitches be in a machine tied quilt? That is determined by the type of batting or wadding used for the quilt. The knots should be no further apart than the recommended quilting distance for the type of batting in this quilt. See Guide to Quilt Batting for the proper distances for different types of batting. If the quilt doesn’t have batting, there simply need to be enough stitched spots to keep the layers from shifting during use.

Supply List for Machine Tying a Quilt

Machine tying a quilt requires only basic quilting supplies:

All-purpose thread or quilting thread
Wash-away or disappearing marker or pencil
Scissors
(Optional) Buttons to embellish the tied spots
Sewing machine
Squared, layered, and basted quilt “sandwich” consisting of top, batting, and backing fabric

The photos at the bottom of the page give a visual guide to the steps involved in machine tying a quilt. Click on any photo to enlarge it.

How to Mark the Quilt for Machine Tying

Lay the basted quilt on a flat surface and smooth it to remove wrinkles.
Use a see-through ruler and a disappearing pencil or marker to mark the spots where the stitches will go, as shown in Photo 2 below. Distribute the stitching spots as evenly as possible across the quilt.

How to Use a Decorative Stitch to Tie the Quilt

Many of today’s sewing machines come with decorative stitches that can embellish the quilt as you tie it. Here’s how to do this:

Choose a decorative stitch that looks good as a single stitch. If your machine doesn’t have this kind of decorative stitch, use the buttonhole stitch instead.
If the machine has a single stitch setting, choose the single stitch setting. Larger stitches may need to be hooped to stitch out properly.
Stitch each of the marked spots with the decorative stitch, then cut and tie off the threads.
Continue the marked spots until you have stitched them all.

How to Machine Tie a Quilt with Buttons

Buttons come in lots of fun colors and shapes. They can lend charm to a tied quilt that might otherwise look plain and utilitarian. Use buttons without shanks to machine tie a quilt.

Set the sewing machine to the bar tack (button) stitch. Adjust the width of the stitch to match the spacing of the holes in the button.
Lower the feed dogs or cover them if your machine doesn’t have a switch to lower them.
Machine stitch a button to each of the marked spots, as shown in Photo 4 below.

Caution: buttons should not be used for quilts that will be used by children ages 3 or under, since there is a chance a child could swallow and choke on a button.

Tying a Quilt with Pillowcase Binding

If the quilt to be tied will be bound pillowcase style, instead of with double fold binding, stitch the edges and turn the quilt right side out before you tie it.

Tying a quilt by machine is easy and fast. Try it the next time you need to get a quilt finished fast, or your quilt has thick batting that would be difficult to quilt with regular hand or machine quilting.