Dandish

I was wondering if any of you that hand quilt use basting spray? Are you satisified with it? What kind do you use? Does it make it more difficult to hand quilt? I love it for machine quilting, but I'm getting ready to dive into hand quilting and I'd love to use it, just wondering if it's suitable.

Thanks!

Borntohandquilt

I must confess that I don't like spray basting at all. Many quilters I know use it when hand quilting and machine quilting without any problems - they mainly use the Odif 505. For me it makes the quilt quite stiff and the layers can't move any more because they stick together. Maybe this is a matter of how much spray you put onto your quilt. Furthermore I can't stand the smell of the spray. I will go on with thread basting....

117becca

I hadn't thought about the quilt getting stiff, but that makes sense. I also handquilt and don't have anywhere to spray the basting stuff. It is free for me to baste - i'm using embroidery floss from the days that I used to do counted cross stitch...

lfletcher

I have used basting spray for hand quilting and it worked just fine. I did use a light hand however when spraying. I used Sullivan's which can be found at Hancock's. I found that the type of batting plays a role in handquilting. Wool or polyester is easier to quilt through than cotton.

Borntohandquilt

I agree with you completely - but the batting I tried with the spray basting was polyester. I have used that several times (thread basted) and it was always a pleasure to quilt it by hand.

GemState

I spray baste the quilts I hand quilt, and have used June Taylor spray or Sullivan's. It doesn't take much to hold the quilt together. If it is stiff you have used WAY TOO MUCH spray IMHO. I use Warm and Natural batting and there is already a 'clingability' (is that a word?) between the cotton fabric and the batting and the spray just reinforces that.

Val in IN

I spray baste all the time when I handquilt. I use Warm and Natural batting and 505 spray baste. I don't spray heavily and it works wonderfully. Not stiff at all, and it washes right out when you are done. When I use it for a wall hanging, or tablerunner, etc., I don't wash it at all until it needs to be washed. For quilts, I wash as soon as the binding and label are on. The 505 washes out completely. Good Luck!!

Dandish

Thank you all for your posts! I like spray basting for machine quilting very much. I think I'll make up a sample and see how it feels to me when hand quilting (I'm new to hand quilting!). I might just go ahead and thread baste the one that's ready to start on...we'll see. Thanks again!