pyffer3

I have finished the quilt top I am finally keeping for myself. It is approximately 98 x 106. I have never made anything this large and now I don't really have any idea how to get my 3 layers together. If I move furniture I can use the floor....but my knees and back will suffer for days! Can I layer them on the floor, roll it up and take it to my room and glue a section at a time? I know I will have to hand quilt it because it will never fit in my brother sewing machine and I am not gonna fight that! Besides it is for my bed and I am making curtains to match and a couple of throw pillows so I want it to be special.
Any suggestions or neat tricks for the layering and basting?

maryb119

I think it will be difficult to hand quilt after spray basting a quilt. I also hand quilt and have a long arm. When i want to hand quilt something, I put it on the long arm and baste it there. Then I can hand quilt it and take out the basting stitches. Is there a long arm quilter who could do that for you? The glue basting would make it to stiff to put the needle thru.

Tartan

I would think that Elmers washable glue basting would make hand quilting difficult? 505 spray basting might be okay to hand quilt through but I have not tried it. Take a look at Sharon Schamber's board basting video and see if it would work for you.

oldpiglady

I am lucky, in that, I live in a bldg. that has a dining hall down the hall. I go in there and push several tables together and then lay out my quilt. I have learned to put the top down first...use glue stick all over ...or sometimes elmer's glue...then lay the batting down...more glue..then the backing. I iron it all over to make it set. I absolutely love this process...because I no longer have to pin the daylights out of it. No pins! I hate pinning! Then I can machine quilt it and not have to run into pins. Using the tables puts the whole thing up where I can handle it. Possibly a local library would let you use their tables. Mine does. Have fun.

PaperPrincess

I would either find a location that has big tables (library, church etc) OR, contact your local long arm quilter. Many will baste quilts for a nominal fee. Might be worth the $$ to avoid the hassle & have it evenly basted.

Prism99

If you are going to hand quilt, it's better to do thread basting. Have you seen Sharon Schamberg's method? Here is a Youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_EjBGz5vGQ

If you can afford a longarmer, you might want to find one willing to thread baste it for you on the frame (they run large straight stitches in a grid all over the quilt). That would be a lot faster.

If you are determined to glue baste, you should make a test sandwich first and see how easy it is to hand quilt. I don't think you will like it. Light spray basting can work for hand quilting, but again try it with a test sandwich and hand quilt it to see if it is going to work for you. Glue basting and spray basting are commonly used for machine quilting, not so much for hand quilting.

ManiacQuilter2

Have you gone into to a LQS or JAF to see if you can use their classroom?? That is what I always did with my larger quilts. It makes for a fun day at my former LQS.

I would thread baste the quilt if you are going to hand quilt it.

Doggramma

I agree with thread basting for quilting by hand. I've used Elmer's for gluing applique shapes, and it's hard to push the needle through the glued part.

Kitsie

Tartan, glue does make it extremely hard to stitch but spray basting is just fine. (for me at least - can't tell the difference from not using it)

kindleaddict63

personally I would QAYG. I divide the quilt into portions to quilt them then join the portions - if you are not using sashing to join the portions remember to leave enough fabric at the edges for the joining part. I use the elmers glue to baste as well.