I don't have any carpet in my old house. All hardwood floors except kitchen and bath which are tiled. I've tried taping the backing, padding and top to the floor. It held very well but then I could'nt get under it to pin and baste. Someone told me to use long quilt pins and pin it on my bed mattress. When basting you just remove one pin at a time, stitch a few, replace pin and move on. It worked very well for me. Plus when removing the tape off the floor also removed my finish.

I can't crawl around on the floor any more so I use painter's tape and tape the quilt bottom to my dining table. I then layer the batting and top and smoothe it out. Before I do any of this though I've learned, the hard way, to put a cutting board on the table first. I slide the cutting board to where I'm pinning so I'm not digging up the surface of the table with the pins. If someone has suggestions to improve this method, please share. I'm always looking for an easier way!!! ;)

you can rig up a system on the wall, much like a curtain rod. Put two coat hooks high on wall..get a piece of wood or other and lay it across
Hang your quilt back middle and top . pin or baste.

You attach the quilt the same as on a frame

I don't know if it is available for you to do this,but I will go to a local quilt shop and "schedule" a day that I can use their classroom(they aren't using it) and pin my quilt together there.It is really nice to do so and it is much more comfortable. :D

I have a few suggestions.

1. Go to the office store and get 2" binder clips. I use the binder clips on my cutting table and only clip the back. The batting and top lay on there. If you start in the center and work your way out, there should be no problem.

2. Use temporary adhesive to baste. There are a few brands on the market, and this works well for small quilts you plan on machine quilting. I doubt this would work well for hand quilting, as the adhesive is temporary.

3. Hang quilt sandwich on clothes line to hand baste. This is a method used by many in the past, and still seems like a great idea.

4. Have your quilt long arm basted. Check with a long arm quilter in your area. For a rather small sum, they will often baste your quilt for you.

Good luck and please get off the floor! :lol:

Boo does the spray adhesive work for large quilts too, or do you like it just for small quilts?

I've used the spray for large quilts that I quilted by hand, and it worked great for me. The needle was a little harder to get through the layers, but not near bad enough to not use it. Soon, I couldn't even tell the difference. Just don't overuse the spray on a quilt. More is not always better.

love to baste my quilts on the carpet. its not as rough on the knees or elbows.that plus i use my sis. capeted floors and that gives us alot of time to play catch up on things we havent talked about in awhile.

We used to belong to a history reenactment club, and they wanted to make a quilt. All men, no experience. I tought them the basics, we got the quilt ready to tie, and laid it on an orange shag rug on the floor. Despite the warnings, they tied it to the carpet. They wanted to leave it there rather than untie it. but we got her done. I'll never forget 70+ year old Oliver, said, I'll just sleep right here. And he did. Not his house, not even his quilt, but he got his nap in.