Joyce DeBacco

I've got four quilt tops that need I need to pin together so I can start quilting them, but I keep putting it off because it's my least favorite part of quilting. Where do you all pin your layers? I know everyone can't have a table designed just for that purpose. Who has the room? I have a large tiled area in my house where I tape my layers down so I can pin them together. But it means crawling and stretching all over the floor. Now, I'm not as young as I used to be, and after doing that, my body is sore for days. I know many of you must be more ancient than I am. How do you do it?

Joyce

JulieR

I do it on the bed in the guest room now, and have given up pins for spray basting because it's much quicker and there's a lot less bending and stretching.

mscupid804

I do exactly what Julie does.

quiltstringz

Our LQS has tables and if they aren't having a class they let you schedule time to use them. Works out great

Scissor Queen

I have folding tables from Walmart and use Sharon Schamber's method to roll them onto flat boards but instead of thread basting then I spray baste. It goes really, really fast that way. Sharon Schamber's videos are available on youtube.

JudyTheSewer

I used to use my carpeted living room floor. T-pins secured the backing onto the carpet. Then, crawl, stretch, scoot around and pin. Then my knee went out on me and the knee surgery makes crawling very painful. I changed to using a large 8-person dining room table. I put a thin piece of paneling on top so that I won't scratch the table wood while scooping those pins in. I use large black office clips to anchor the backing. I smooth the batting over the backing and the add the top. Then, I roll around on my office chair and pin away. I start with the quilt centered on the table and once that is pinned I'll move it around as necessary so that all sides of the quilt are pinned securely. I was amazed how easy it is and was sorry I didn't always do it this way. So far, my largest quilt is a twin size but I'm thinking I could do a king size using this same method. I never have puckers in my backing and I think partly this is due to the fact that I use so many pins. I put them a palm width apart (every 3-4 inches). The quilt is quite heavy with all of those pins in it! (Using a bed sounds like a good idea except it wouldn't work for me because my back can't handle leaning over for long periods of time. By using the table and a chair my back stays nice a straight and I have no pain.) I hope you find a method that works for you!

JulieR

Too true, as I was reading your description I was dreaming about whether or not I could do that here... LOL

quilter1

I use the pool table, although I usually have to move the quilt and pin sections. Sometimes I do it the Sharon Schamber way too. For a small quilt or runner, spray baste works well for me.

Mimiqwerty

I use the peninsula counter in my kitchen that separates the cooking area from the dining area. I find the center point of the top, batting, and back (fold them in quarters) and mark with a safety pin. Then I lay the backing down (wrong side up) with the center pin on the counter and the extra backing hanging down on either side of the peninsula counter. Next is the batting and finally the top where I match center pins with the backing and fasten all three layers together. At this point I put a row of safety pins across the center of the quilt connecting all three layers. Then I slide the row of pins to the edge of the counter, peel back the top and use Elmer's school glue on the batting to glue the top down. I smooth with both hands and use a dry warm iron to heat set the glue. I continue sliding the sandwich down until the top half of the quilt top is glued to the batting. Then I repeat for the bottom half of the quilt top by sliding it in the opposite direction. When the entire top is glued down and dried, I flip the sandwich over and do the same thing for the backing. When all layers are glued and dried, I remove the safety pins. I've done a large queen sized quilt this way and it worked great. Being at counter height was wonderful for my back and I have a pad I stand on for my feet and knees. My only problem was that I had to clear off my kitchen counter before I could start. I guess that was a good thing .

auntpiggylpn

I have a small cutting table. I find the center of all three pieces and center it on my table with the excess hanging over the edges. I start pinning in the middle and move left pinning and moving the layers to the right as needed. I then recenter the sandwich and pin to the right using the same method of shifting the fabric to the left. I keep recentering the sandwich and move down from the original row of pinning. I pin the lower half of the quilt sandwich then I turn the sandwich around and do the same process for the upper part. I keep smoothing the top, batting and backing as I go before I pin. I'm able to feel if there is a wrinkle in any of the layers. It works for me and I have never had a wrinkle when I check the back before starting to quilt.