Why do some of my quilts have wrinkles on the back?

[Margo C.]

You might also be able to use tables at your local quilt shop and teach some others a new trick!! :wink:

[Margo C.]

I baste quilts on the floor, and found a set of contractor's knee pads (from the hardware store) make a huge comfort difference!

[Margo C.]

Last night Jill Schumacher http://www.quiltmakertothequeen.com/
spoke at our guild. She pin bastes and said to put the pins in, starting in the center but do not close the pins until all are in. Closing them while pinning will put wrinkles on the back. I had not known that.

Jill attaches the backing to a table, taping or clamping it, "floats" the batting onto it, "floats" the top onto it, smooths it out then starts in the middle to pin. She even showed us how you can use a 3 foot wide table. Just start with the center of the quilt on the table with the rest draping down. Pin, pin, pin, then shift the whole thing and pin, pin, pin. It looks quite do-able! I hope I have made this clear.

JoAnne

[Cher O.]

I always pin baste the way Joanne described. I put the pins in but don't close them. After they're all in I can actually release the backing and sit and close all the pins. It's alot easier on the hands too, to close the pins when the backing is not real tight to the floor or table.
I never have tucks on the backs of my quilts.

Cher in BC

[Cher O.]

At our local quilt group we 'borrow' the shop's big tables and layer up someone's quilt - we do the taping down, pinning and basting together - four or five of us will have it stable enough for the owner to take home after a couple of hours. I also can't do crawling around on the floor, not least because our schnauzer Monty sits in the middle of it! :lol:

[Hannelore N.]

Well, you could consider pinning Monty to the next quilt (giggle). You'd surely win a ribbon for "Most Unusual Embellishment".

Lorchen

[Hannelore N.]

When I pin baste, my cats try to steal the pins! :shock:
Next quilt I am going to try Sharon Schaumber's method.

Jean in Windsor, ON where winter came back (yuck!)

[Hannelore N.]

I'm just about ready to baste another quilt using Sharon's technique. It worked so well the first time I tried it.

This quilt will be hand quilted, so I have another question. I like to use a blue wash-out marker to mark designs for hand quilting. The lines will last as long as I need them to and not rub off like a chalk pencil mark will.

Does anyone know how this works with the starch? I know I need to iron and starch the quilt top and I can't iron once I mark (it sets the marks), so is it ok to mark on top of the starch? Will the marks still wash out? Has anyone tried this?

Maybe I should starch a scrap, mark it and wash it to test. If no one answers, I'll try that and let everyone else know how it worked!

Cold today, but temps looking better the rest of the week!

[Hannelore N.]

In my experience marking on top of the starch will work just fine. Because of the starch the mark probly won't penetrate the fabric, which is a good thing. Testing is a good thing too, though!
Sherry