Basting spray quest
 

Im having a horrible time getting my bigger quits basted with spray & I really don't want to pin them or baste them by hand . Any suggestions? I do not have a place to tack it to a wall & spray either. As of now I take them outside & wrestle in grass & it's such a pain to get no wrinkles! Thx

It sounds like you need a bigger, harder surface. I've heard of quilters who use their driveway, garage floor, basement, tables in their church or library or school or other community building. Are any of those a possibility for you?

If you don't want to pin or baste by hand, I think spray is your only other option.

do you have a community center that allows people to use space? our library has a large room in the basement where the garden club & other groups meet- when it is not being used individuals can use it- i have gone in many times - pushed large (banquet type) tables together and layed out king sized quilts to mark for quilting- or to sandwich /baste-
even the school will let a person go in & use some space when it's available.
i also have a couple 6 foot folding tables i can set up outside (normally used when i'm dyeing fabric- but i can put them together outside & lay a quilt out on them too-... where theres a will- theres a way...ask around your community- there may be many resources you didn't know were available- for the asking...it does not cost anything for us to use the library, the community center or the school

It's fairly inexpensive to buy a couple of saw horses and a 4x8' piece of plywood at one of the big box hardware stores. You can set this up on your driveway, and it stores pretty flat in the garage when not needed. I would use clamps with this setup to keep everything straight. Here is a link to the type of clamp I use (on a large table in my sister's community room):
http://www.menards.com/main/tools-ha...914-c-9135.htm
This clamp opens wide and is very easy to fasten and unfasten. Found them in my local Menard's.

Edit: I would add that I heavily starch the backing fabric before layering. This helps reduces wrinkles and puckering a lot. I also spray starch the top before layering.

Okay, I might not be much help because I pin my quilts; haven't tried the spray mainly because I don't mind the pinning. I too am at a disadvantage as I don't have a large dining room table and I refuse to lay my quilts on the floor (3 dogs, 4 cats - doesn't matter how often you vacuum!!) What I do have is a cutting table that I purchased from Hancocks. It has 2 sides that flip up. Unfortunately, my sewing area is soo small that I can only flip up one side. So I work on a 3 ft X 3 ft area. I have marks on each side of the table and in the center. I find the center of my backing and I match up the very center points. I clamp my backing down to the table. I lay my batting on and I also find the center of my top and lay it on top of the backing and batting. Then I pin as usual. I work from left to right and top to bottom in small sections. When I have all of the table pinned, I re-adjust the quilt on the table and keep at it. Most of the time after I do my initial pinning of the center, I take the clamps off and do the rest of the pinning without them. It is time consuming (but pinning is) and it isn't super fast but I can proudly say that when I am done pinning, there are no wrinkles in my back and I am set to go!

When I used to spray baste my large quilts I would use my dining room table, any time you baste inside Please remember to open windows and ventilate, anyway:
1. Sandwich your quilt, by drappimg over any table
2. Work out all lumps and bumps on both sides til smooth
3. Start with front of fabric facing you, lay over table so middle of quilt is on edge of table , and pull back just the top layer ALL the way to the middle
4. Spray about 4-6 inches of your batting.
5. Slowly and carefully smooth down your top fabric over the batting where you sprayed
6. Now repeat next 4-6 inches I til you reach the end of one side of your top, then do other side of top, again starting from the middle.
7. Once your top is fully basted flip over and repeat with backing

TAKE your time basting and don't feel like the whole quilt has to fit on flat surface the whole time, shift it from side to side as you spray baste, just like you would on an ironing board. This method is much easier than it sounds and works great when you don't rush.

Good luck. I hope this helps you :)

Try rolling the piece you are basting onto a 6' or 8' length of 1x4. You can get it rolled on with no wrinkles even if you have to use your floor. Then when you are spray basting only spray about 4" at a time across the width. Smooth that part down and then your are ready to spray another 4 inches , unwind, smooth, spray, unwind, smooth, spray, etc. until you have the whole quilt spray basted. I would practice on smaller pieces. Remember the spray will wash out so you can practice on bath towels or anything you want. It doesn't have to be quilting pieces to practice on.I've seen this demonstrated on TV - worked fine for them.

i just use a folding table and spray what is on the table, move the quilt, spray more. i don't seem to over spray at all.

Not with spray!! I used to do that at the library when using a tacking gun, but spray is a no-no!

I wondered how public buildings would feel about using a spray basting product in their building . . . .