Quintessential Way to Knot Your Thread When Sewing

Intro: Quintessential Way to Knot Your Thread When Sewing

Simple thing, right? Thread your needle and then put a knot at the end.

I looooove to sew - absolutely dreaded to HAND sew because I always had trouble with where my knot would end up.

My fellow sewers feel me. I'd try to tie off my thread by looping it around the very end of the length, on my fingertips, pushing that little knot down tight as near to the end of my thread as I could get. And woe-was-me if I was sewing with a single strand and had to try to tie a double knot. Getting that second knot to lie right on the first was always a struggle. UGH!

So, here's an Instructable about a trick that saved my sanity and opened up a new world (I could have never started to do Hawaiian quilting, which is all handsewn, without it) of enjoyment.

STEP 1: Step 1

First, Thread your needle. Now!:

Hold an end of the thread between your index finger and the needle, near the sharp end.

STEP 2: Step 2

Wrap the thread around the needle three times.

STEP 3: Step 3

Grip the wrapped thread between the thumb and index finger of the other hand.

STEP 4: Step 4

Let the needle pass your fingertips while maintain a grip on the wrapped thread region. Pull the thread until the wrapped region get to the end of the thread.


And so! You have a knot perfectly placed at the end of your thread and your hands aren't all cramped up, or anything. Easy-peasy!

Comments

[mateosbaby]

I must be missing something...  The thread just slides to the end and off it comes.  No knot at all.  And I'm getting frustrated.  I am just learning to sew, but if I can't knot, then what's the use?

[Tomib]

Don't give up. Hold needle over thread in left hand amd wrap the long end eith the right hand. I finally got

[LindyGirlThay]

Don't give up!  Sewing is a not only useful task, with a little practise, it can become a stress-relieving art form (no, really!).

A point to check: Make sure the thread that you've wound around the needle isn't unwinding before it gets pulled the entire length. Leave a little extra thread tail during Step 1, so that you can see it hanging out once you've moved the wound section from the finger of one hand to in between the fingers of the other, in Step 3.

Did that help?

[nikolaou]

cool it worked.

thanx

[Maureclaire]

This is actually a French knot... the only knots I tie ! LOL

[hay_jumper]

I actually thought about posting an instructable about this same thing. I wrap the thread three times around my index finger, and using my thumb, roll the thread off. It's not always pretty, but it gets the job done. Nice work, btw!

[fullerenedream]

That's what my mum does too. Me, I just carefully tie a little knot.

[miss oclock]

I also find knotting thread to be a pain in my bum. I'm a lifelong sewer but have never seen this. It works perfectly! Thanks for sharing.

[gdshardy]

Girl, you ROCK! That's the easiest trick I ever saw with needle & thread! Thanks for the tip.

[GorillazMiko]

Awesome! Usually I make a lot of string to be at the end, and I just tie the knot and then cut it. :P

[LindyGirlThay]

Mee too, and I'd feel bad for wasting all that thread I was cutting off. Plus, I hated making the knot so much, I would actually cut off an extra long piece of thread (longer thread = less times I had to make a $@#& knot), so I'd end up spending more time and energy pulling all that thread through on each stitch.

Learning this technique absolutely changed the way I looked at hand-sewing 180 degrees.