Seems too risky to me.
 

In almost 40 years of quilting I have never quilted a project of any size either by hand or machine without basting it first. I use either safety pins, basting spray, needle and thread, or tacking gun. Several ladies in our local group tell me they never baste when they put it in a square free-standing quilting frame. They pin around the edge of the quilt and they begin quilting on all sides at once and not in the middle out as I'd been taught and always practiced.

Just curious what your experience has been with this type of procedure. I'm concerned because we are doing a very
special quilt for auction and I want it to be completed well without puckers or pleats on the back. It seems to me that we're really taking a chance on this happening when we don't baste. Am I being overly concerned about this?

From what you're describing, it sounds like they have the whole quilt set out in a frame, and wrapping the finished quilt around the end poles? That's the way quilts used to be framed up for hand quilting. It's not done much any more because who has the space to keep a full size quilt stretched out until the quilting is finished.

I'd trust what they say if they've done it before without incident. It sounds like it would be loads of fun to work on the quilt - an old fashioned quilting bee.

Janet

And come to think of it, I don't baste my quilts either - I use a 3 pole quilt frame. At the most, I'll pin some sections to make sure the backing doesn't get pulled in the wrong direction.

Janet

My longarm frame has the extra poles to keep you from basting and everything shifting, but this frame is just like the frames they used to use...4 boards like a picture frame. I have just read another post about this same procedure being used that I described so maybe a lot of people don't baste. When I use my standing quilt frame I baste it and then roll both sides in and start in the middle even when others are quilting with me. We roll out from the middle. Maybe it doesn't really make a difference. These ladies have only seen it done by their relatives. They haven't experienced it yet but they think I'm foolish to baste.

I don't baste when I hand quilt either. The frame holds it all together and there's no need to. I use clips, clamps or clothes pins to hold the edges together

Quiltlady330, This is the way we have always done the quilts at church and we just tie them. No puckers allowed and it is so much easier. The batting is put on the frame and secured on all 4 sides then the batting is smoothed over then the top is put on and we usually pin around the edges. Then we all start in a spot on one of the edges and gave a 'quilting bee'. Depending on the number of gals and size of quilts we have been known to get 7 or 8 done in a 3 hours. Not a wrinkle in the bunch either.... Good luck!

When I visited my Amish friend's home she had a king-sized quilt secured on all four sides in a large rack that they could sit 12-13 women around to quilt. The rack holds the quilt in place without the need for pins, basting, etc.

Everything invented these days is a substitute for putting a quilt in the frame, hand quilting around the outside and rolling to the middle. Pay close attention. These ladies probably learned from the masters and once they're gone, we'll all be poorer.

That's the "old-fashioned" way of doing it quilting-bee fashion. No basting required because of the frame.

I always basted and hand quilted from the center out. I didn't have a frame.
Now I only machine quilt and I pin the sandwich every 3-4 inches. I just use a regular sewing machine with a 9" throat.I hope the quilt turns out well.