I have been asked how I use Elmer's Glue for basting blocks and binding. So while putting binding on today I snapped a few pictures to demonstrate how I do it. The glue washes out easily, it does not gum up my needle, and I have tried hand sewing through it and had not trouble with that either.
Keep the glue in the seam, if it leaks out it will wash out of the fabric, no problem....but I do not care to clean my iron's sole plate any more often than necessary :wink:
It is very helpful to have this small applicator tip...you only need a very fine line or very small drops. Coming out of the regular bottle's tip is too much and hard to control. I got this bottle for 49 cents at a thrift store. You can refill these bottles with regular Elmer's White School Glue. Another alternative is to squirt some glue out onto a piece of aluminum foil and use the tip of a toothpick...I tried this in a pinch, but it does take longer doing it this way. If it is just to align/match seams, it works fine.
To align/match seams, I only DRY IRON for a quick 3 count...for bindings sometimes to 5...check and see how long it takes to set the glue.
I used more than necessary to match the seams in these pictures so that the drops showed up...3 small drops...if you shift it, gently peel them apart and reglue and iron.
Practice on some orphan blocks like in the picture...mine are pinned down just to free up my hands to take the pictures. I match the seams, glue and pinch the area with my fingers and then hit it with the iron.

Binding sewn onto the back and ready to be glued down.

I place the glue dots where they will not come out past the binding after being ironed.

Iron to the count of 3-5 seconds....on a setting to match your fabric and NO STEAM.

You can see even my mitred corner is started here, too. Everything is basted down.
Now I add just a drop more the the corner of the mitre to hold it in place when folded down and iron.

More dots of glue and iron the binding down.

The mitred corner looks pretty good, huh? 8) Even better in person without the shadows picked up by the camera :wink:

Continue all the way around your quilt and then sit down and sew it by hand or machine and now worries about getting poked, sewing over pins, or the pins hanging up on the quilt.

Thanks so much for sharing. Good photos and directions!

THANKS :lol:

Thank you Amma :-)

ok. YOU are my hero!

i glue baste, too, when doing narrow bindings. but no matter how hard i try i simply cannot get the sharp, crisp, perfectly angled mitres you make.

i bow in awe and wonder. :shock: :P :P :P

What a great tute!! Thanks!
And I am so envious of your mitered corners, mine never look that good!!!
I will try harder :roll: :roll:
I like this, especially for the bigger quilts that i do, no pins, I am always sticking myself :shock: :lol: :lol:

Hurray! was basting last night and my hand slipped...yup, jabbed pin right up under left thumbnail :shock: :evil: :!:
Now I got me some pictures, I am gonna become a glue basting fool :mrgreen:
No more jabs for me...maybe :oops:
Hugs for sharing Amma. Your corner looks awesome! :wink:

Amma, can I ask you a question? This is probably a stupid one, but do you stitch down the front first then glue down the back followed with additional stitching? If so, does the stitch show on the front? I'm confused. So sorry to ask so many questions. Thank you in advance.