Originally Posted by Prism99

Before I had the gun, I pin-basted the quilts I intended to machine quilt and thread-basted the quilts I wanted to hand quilt. To do these quilts, I mounted them on my homemade frame. This is simply 4 2x4s to which I stapled doubled-over fabric leaders and marked measurements from the center out to each side. I used C-clamps to fasten the 4 wooden pieces to each other, propping the ends on kitchen chairs. I pinned the backing to the leaders first, matching middles, and created my sandwich from there. I actually liked this system, but it was time-consuming because of the rolling and re-pinning needed for a bed-sized quilt, and ultimately it became too much for my back. It worked best for small quilts. Twin-sized quilts had a tendency to sag in the middle.