Basting a quilt for machine quilting

[Gloria H.]

I spray baste ALOT just because as a "bizzy" mother of three its hard to find time and space to lay out my quilt and baste. :roll: That said I have NEVER had a problem with a gummy needle, although I have heard from some who have.

What I use is the stuff you buy at Wal Mart (just because it is convinent, if my LQS was less than a mile away I would buy thiers) It is June Tailors and seems to work very well. There was another brand that came in a yellow bottle that seemed to be a stronger bond, but this works fine and has less fumes than the other.
Anyway, I lay mine out on my diningroom table, open the windows and put fans in blowing out, and baste my quilt in sections starting at the top and working down. The fans help with the fumes. I would do it outside be we always seem to have blowing fluff or dust and I don't want that stuck in the layers of my quilt. IF you can baste outside though I would recommend it. The fumes are my only complaint. :?
As for pinning I remember that SQ episode too, but I also remember something else. Everyone's hand width is different. If you have wide palms (Like me :cry: ) you should try three or four fingers width instead. Also look at the size of pin you are using. You should be using size 00 or 0, 1 at the absolute largest. Larger sizes take too big a bite and allow shifting within the pin itself.

Good luck and happy basting
Mandy - running off to work on her DWR for the first time in a week :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Gloria H.]

I use the 505. It is suppose to have less fumes. I use it all the time. I have some difficult with breathing, and I suffer from migraines, but have not notice a problem from this spray as long as I let it settle before I put my face near it. ritzy

[Robin G.]

In one of the first couple of shows, Joe Cunningham showed a frame that he built and used for basting his quilts. You can use it to pin or baste with thread. I have gone out and bought the wood and clamps needed, but I haven't finished any quilts since then and have yet to try it out.
Has anyone out there used his frame method and how did it work? Thanks.

[Gloria H.]

The 505 is the best spray. The secret to not gumming the needle is to lightly spray in short bursts. I do my spraying on a ping pong table in the basement with all the doors open. I let it rest 24 hours and then I'm good to go. It does make for strange ping pong games as I have left some residue on the surface after spraying numerous projects. :lol:

[Gloria H.]

I did the Joe Cunningham frame and used it to pin baste the last quilt I made. Worked great.

Debra

[Gloria H.]

Teresa -- Are you using a walking foot OR are you free hand quilting? As a matter of interest, when I use a walking foot on my Bernina 1230, My quilting is perfect. Same Quilt... Moved to the Bernina 180 using the walking foot will produce puckered folds on the wrong side of the fabric. This is something several of my friends have also experienced. The reason????? who knows, but I am happy to have the 1230.
Del

[Gloria H.]

Since this is my first attempt I'm using the walking foot. I redid everything one more time and still ended up with a small pucker in one area. I have a 440 QE but I honestly think it's my pin basting and not the foot.

I've got a ton more quilts to practice on, so I am going to just keep at it. I've got a bit more than half of the quilting done on this first one. It's really exciting to me. I was so scared to even try and now I feel really good about what I've done even with the mistakes on this first one. I'm trying to cut myself some slack but yet do the best I can.

I really appreciate all the tips. I'm going to check out the spray basting for the next quilt, but since I don't have room to lay it out here at home I don't know how long I have to leave it sit after spraying. I do the basting at work and I can't leave it overnight.

[Gloria H.]

One thing to watch for when using a walking foot is to see that the walking parts on the foot match up perfectly with the feed dogs on your machine. This is a common problem when trying to find a walking foot that works well with old machines, since the feed dogs on modern machines are usually a much different shape and configuration than the feed dogs on the old machines. Since I don't have any newer machines, I can't speak to yours, but do take a close look to see if the walking foot is a good fit with your feed dogs.

Pat in Rockport, TX

[Gloria H.]

I take my top, batting and backing to my local long arm quilter. I supply Vanish Extra water soluble thread from Superior Threads. My long arm quilter mounts the quilt, gets it perfectly straight and true and bastes it with my thread. Then I take it home and machine quilt it myself. There are no pleats or puckers.

Most long arm quilters charge just a mounting fee for this. In this area, it's abour $40. Just think, no pins, no plastic tacks, no pleats, no wrinkles, no puckers.

It takes very little effort to remove the Vanish Extra.

Susan Berbec

[Gloria H.]

Having a long arm quilter do it sounds like a great idea... unfortunately my practice pieces right now aren't always 'straight' and I don't know any LA quilters well enough for them to be as forgiving as I think I'd need them to be. ops:

[Cheryl M.]

What kind of batting are you using? I find that when a polyester batting is used, the fabric tends to slip and pucker in the back becaue it's so slippery. My first few quilts were like that and only after I saw how well fabric clings to cotton was I convinced that was the product to use.
Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 is my favorite batting for most things and you can actually press small projects from the front and back without pinning and it works great. They also make a fusible batting, but I've never used it for a large quilt. Cheryl

[Eileen K.]

I've tried the large fusible batt by Hobbs. A client brought it. I found I had to do a lot more straightening of both the top and backing because they got stuck.
I'v never tried it for hand quilting.

[Eileen K.]

I had the same trouble once in using the taping method. It is all about the pinning not your machine. The backing has to be taped tightly with out any shifting in "any area" of the quilt. I pinned from middle out and still had the problem. What my problem was I didn't have enough pins. With out having enough pins your quilt backing will get little folds easily.
I now pin all my quilt backing into the carpet taunt with special pins. Lay batting ontop getting all wrinkles completely out then laying top onto that. I would of coase had my quilting design marked out before doing any of this. Then I will sit in the middle of my quilt and start pinning working my way from middle out on all four sides. I pin heavily,about three fingures apart. It's worth the extra work.I have not had any problems since.
It really does have everything to do with how you are Layering your quilt tauntly and pinning heavy enough working from the middle out on all four sides evenly. I would only use the spray ad stuff on smaller quilts because of the handling of the quilt so much in the quilting process.

[Jorie D.]

I'm working with The Quilt That Would Not Stop Growing so find all this back reading really instructive.

I've used 505 to spray baste my smaller pieces and twin size quilts and was surprised at how well and how long (months!) it held the layers together.

Has anyone tried using it on king-sized layers?

[Jorie D.]

If you have high-speed internet access, check out

http://www.sharonschambernetwork.com...area/free.html

and you won't have to buy the spray stuff any more. I use this method with safety pins and it works great, and I have no more sore knees or sore back.

Pat in Rockport, TX