BonnieJP

Cathy, glue basting with Elmer's washable school glue is very easy and cheap. I have glue basted more than 100 quilts using Elmer’s Washable School Glue. I tried other methods, but like the glue basting best because I never get any puckers on the front or back of my quilts. Using this method, the quilts never come out stiff and there is no chemical smell or overspray to deal with.1. Roll the quilt top on a pool noodle (right side up). This will make it easier to put the top on the batting later.



2. Fill a carpenter’s glue roller bottle with undiluted Elmer's Washable School Glue. Do not dilute the glue because you want it come out of the bottle slowly.



3. Starting at one end, gently squeeze the glue bottle to feed a small amount onto the batting in an X pattern, making sure there are no glue globs that would make the quilt stiff. Aim for a thin line of glue, not a wide strip, about the width of a line drawn with a fine tip marker. If it looks like there's more glue than I want on the batting, I stop squeezing the bottle and just use the roller to "spread" it.



4. I usually apply the glue in a 10” -12” high row across the batting, then begin unrolling the quilt top onto the glued batting a “row” at a time.



5. Remove any wrinkles as you go by smoothing the glued top from the center to the edges with your hands, similar to the way you’d smooth wallpaper on a wall.



6. After the glued top has dried a few hours, flip the sandwich and glue the backing to the batting following steps 1 through 5 above.



7. Let the glued backing dry overnight.


I wash the roller thoroughly with warm water immediately after using it to glue. The roller can be easily popped out and I just rub it down with my fingers under warm water to remove the glue and any accumulated fuzz/threads. The roller is a made from a hard rubber. As long as you clean the glue after every use, the bottle and roller should last for years. There really is nothing to wear out.


This is the easiest way I have found to glue baste my quilts. The glue is cheap at $10-$15 per gallon and will glue numerous quilts. Quick and easy to do, no chemical smell or overspray, and no puckers in the finished quilt. Hope these tips help.
The carpenter glue roller bottles are available at Rockler.com or Amazon.

Delona

I use 505 spray. It works pretty good

Cathy46

thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm going to try it on my next quilt.

Delona

I use the 505 spray.

Delona

I use the 505 basting spray.

sewingpup

I don't spray baste because I don't want to breathe that stuff in or get it on other things. Now that I have a long arm, I do not have to baste! I do sometimes pin baste something small that I am going to do on my sit down, If I were to do something larger on my sit down, I would baste it on my longarm. Some long armers will baste your quilt. I don't know how much they would charge for that, but if I have to give up my long arm, I think that is what I would do. Find someone to baste it for me. Some shops will rent out time on their longarms. You usually have to take a class first. I would think you could get a number of quilts basted in a couple of hours. Sure beats getting down on the floor to glue baste, or pin baste, or spray baste.

Stitchnripper

I glue baste on a table so no floor for me. I don’t use pool noodles, or a roller or a brush. I just drizzle on and smooth it out. I’ve done maybe 40 quilts up to queen size with zero issues. Very simple.