Basting for machine AND hand quilting

[Constance G.]

I am in the home stretch of piecing a signature quilt top for my church's centennial in November. It will be a fairly large piece, 92 x 98 inches. It has over 100 6-inch blocks, set with 2 inch sashing, and a center logo for the church. I am going to use Quilter's Dream mid-weight cotton batting. My quilting plan is to do machine ditch quilting along the sashing, then hand quilt the logo and a few details in each block. (The quilt will be in a frame for the hand quilting stage.) My dilemma is how to baste the quilt. Pin basting is good for machine quilting, not so much for hand quilting. Hand basting threads are hard to remove if you machine quilt over them. I'd appreciate advice from anyone who has mixed the quilting techniques. :?

[Nancy R.]

I would pin baste and then do the machine stitch-in-the-ditch quilting. Since you have 6" blocks, this quilting should stabilize the quilt enough that you can remove the pins before moving on to the hand quilting.

[Margo C.]

Nancy's idea sounds like it should work just fine!

[Margo C.]

Why are pins not a good idea for hand quilting? I always pin mine with the large curved safety pins. Then as I unroll the quilt, I take them out as I move along so they don't keep catching my quilting thread. Is that bad?

Kathy

[Eileen K.]

Nothing is bad as long as it works for you. Others may not have had as good an experience as you.

[Eileen K.]

Because I use my Q Snaps for basting I thread baste, even for machine quilting. There is occasionally a stubborn thread to remove but there never has been one that has made me consider fighting with the pins again. I came across quilters who outline the perimeter of blocks up to 12" by machine and then hand quilt from there, with beautiful results. It worked well for me when I gave it a try.

[Constance G.]

Agnes, how large is your Q snap frame? Can you give me more details on your basting process with this frame?

[Rita C.]

I saw a youtube tutorial of Sharon Shambers on hand basting a quilt which was very interesting. It is in two parts. Here's the link if anybody is interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNy...eature=related

The other interesting one is how to square up a block or border on a quilt using starch. It's called 'magical basting'. Here's the link for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi1Rg...eature=related

[Rita C.]

I sometimes machine baste using "Wash-A-Way" thread. However, that would be a lot a basting thread for a quilt as large as yours.

[Constance G.]

Thanks, everyone, for the great suggestions. What I decided to do is to thread baste just the logo section, and pin baste in the blocks. As suggested, I will do the ditch quilting around the 6-inch blocks, then be able to install a pin-free quilt into the quilt frame for the completion of hand quilting. I"ll let you know how it goes! Here's a picture of my basting setup:

[Constance G.]

Thanks for showing us a) your basting set up, but more importantly b) your quilt you are working on. It is always really nice to see what the queries are about. It looks pretty good from here.

[Cheryl K.]

Wow! Beautiful quilt! Nice arrangement and very colorful.

[karen f.]

Oh I really like your quilt! Great idea.

[karen f.]

Connie--Sorry I am so long in answering. Recently I have only been checking once every week or two. I have most of the Q Snap sizes, including the floor and extension. I use the largest frame possible. My normal procedure is to lay out my layers on the bed. Then I pin the four corners and on really large quilts the mid point on the outer edges before transferring onto the frame. I find this little bit of pinning extremely helpful to keep the backing centered. Very often my backing is pieced and this keeps the center from going off. If it is extremely important that the back is perfectly positioned as well I thread baste the center of the back only before placing it down for the sandwich so I can use this thread as reference lines for the front. Next step is to position the sandwich on the frame with the center roughly in the center of the frame just as you show in the photo of your lovely quilt. At that point I clamp it down and check the bottom for tautness, loosening one clamp at a time and giving the bottom an extra tug if necessary. I baste from side to side with long threads, leaving the extra hanging to be rethread after repositioning. When the clamped area is basted, I move the sandwich to an unquilted section and continue. It sometimes seems to be a long process but I get a much smoother quilt by this method than any other I have tried. I will snip threads that get in the way of the foot but with quilt lines about every four to six inches the final is not compromised. I must say it is very helpful to know how you plan to quilt it before you start basting so you can run your threads to avoid intersections on quilting intersections. I have quilted queen quilts with very satisfactory results using this method.

[karen f.]

That is a beautiful quilt Connie. good luck.