assembling quilt, back & batting
 

when it comes time to assemble your quilt front & back with batting, how do you do it.
I have spread it on the floor and penned it.
Has anyone put it across their bed to assemble?
This is the job I detest the most!

I use a double bed all the time. It's tricky because you have to go around and around to keep it flat, so I generally only do up to twin or throw sized quilts that way. It is a little hard on the back, too, so I need to take breaks. If it's a bigger quilt and I want to quilt it myself, I take it to our town's historical building which has some folding tables that can be set up to use. Your public library may also have a few. It actually takes less time to do that than it takes using the bed. I'm now thinking of getting a folding table of my own and storing it under a bed. I've been taking bigger quilts to a long arm quilting friend lately, though. She does a great job!

Floor in the kitchen. Its an epic pain but it gets the job done. (Also, the floor gets cleaned)

The dining room table. I place a safety pin in the middle of the back the batting and the front to make sure the 3 layers meet in the middle. For me it's way easier for my knees and my back.

I have a 6 foot folding table that I (well, sweet hubby) set up and take down in the dining area
as needed. Lucky you! it is in use--here's a pic.
I have just discovered basting spray adhesive! I was worried it would gunk up my needle, but no problems. I used to safety pin but no more! Way smoother and less time consuming!
I'll create a tutorial on the steps I have learned that are helpful--look in appropriate forum if you are interested.

I have a large kitchen island I use for assembling quilts. Saves my back and knees!! I have “trained” my husband to help with the whole process and spray baste, both of which help immensely. Average time to put it all together is 30 min...less if it’s a baby quilt and longer if I have to precisely position the quilt back due to size. Game changer for me!

I have a small house and the largest two places I have to work are my ironing board and my queen sized bed.

Yes, it makes a challenge but I've adapted. Bed is better than the floor in terms of me bending down/getting up, which I did do for years, move out the furniture and sweep/wash the floor and do my sandwich using cans of stuff to hold down the fabric.

I take off the blankets and pillows and lay out craft paper across the bed (these are the large rolls, three overlapping sheets cover the bed. I use those multiple times, I do replace if they get too much spray baste or otherwise get old but they last about a year. To make things even more difficult, I have the four posts to stick up as well as a foot board. So yes, I have to work in sections. Often I can fit the "narrow" width across my bed, that's a big help.

I used to have a large dining room table, that was nice, it was crib sized just set up and could be expanded. When I worked in offices I had conference rooms. Some people have use of a school or church with those big lunch tables. You can use the drape of the fabric as it goes off the side to help you keep things smooth!

I had long arm access I no longer have access too -- among my various concepts on how to get more of my tops finished I've thought about taking them to a long-arm-er to sandwich/baste, but I'm still too cheap to do that. Still hoping to find a home machine to rent a couple days a month, but with the virus stuff not expecting that to happen this year. So... me and the bed. We can do it!

Edit: I'm a spray baste fan. Going to try glue but haven't yet.

I am in the process of binding my first quilt, which I had basted by a long arm quilter. It is 85 x 85, so having it on a long arm frame really helped to keep everything nice and even.

That said, it was so loosely basted that I could not leave the basting threads on the quilt as the material shifted too much and made puckers even before I started quilting on my domestic machine. I left the basting intact on the blocks I was not currently quilting to keep them from "running off", and heavily pinned the block to be quilted. This seemed to work well, but next time I am going to try either the spray adhesive or the glue.

Before I had it basted, I tried the garage floor with painters paper taped down to protect the quilt, but what a literal pain! Good luck with whatever method you use!

BTW, if you have the space one of the most desirable things for temporary layout space is a foldable ping pong table. Usually kept in a garage, pull the car out and pull out the ping pong table and open it up, huge space and a good height for most of us! Doesn't even have to have a nice playable surface... Can often find good deals on Craig's List on things like that. Unfortunately, I don't have a garage either :(

I have seen people use the pool noodles. Go to YouTube and search for
using pool noodles for quilting
There are several videos out there.

There’s no way I could get down on the floor to do it! I have an old dining room table in the basement. I layer the quilt, lining up the edges along 2 sides (to try to keep things even). I don’t care about the stuff hanging off the other edges (if it’s a bigger quilt). Then I start pinning what’s on the table, moving the quilt to pin the hanging stuff after the rest is pinned. I really hate the sandwiching process!

I mostly use my kitchen floor. It is the easiest to clean if I am using a spray basting and easiest if I am pinning or gluing. Plus it is the largest open space I have. I will also use my sewing studio if I am doing a smaller quilt or a QAYG quilting project. Basting a larger quilt is always a pain in the back for me. But I am, by the time I get to this phase, so excited to get to the finish of the quilt that I get it done as quickly and exacting as possible. I have gone to glue basting for most of my quilting now as it is far less stressful on the back. Best of luck.

I lay the layers on the floor in the living room. It is hard to get up and down so I usually crawl around on my hands and knees (not a pretty sight)!! I don't do this very often but I find this is the best way.

I use my DR glass topped table and clips from Home Depot. Then I pin using large safety pins.

1" x 4" boards work well too. I like them better than pool noodles because their weight helps to hold the quilt sandwich parts. You Tube videos also.

I use the dining room table or the conference table at my office. Place a straight pin at the center sides, top, and bottom of all layers. Lay backing wrong side up. Fold batting into quarter so it is easy to handle. Place onto the backing matching two of the pins. Unfold matching the rest of the pins. Spray baste if using as you go. Pins are simply a placement marker to help line up all the layers. Important if you have directional prints.

Repeat with the quilt top. Smooth each layer as you go. Pin the layers together if using them.

This is a completely non-stressful (one might even say, pleasant) way to baste if you are fortunate enough to have a long-ish table.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_EjBGz5vGQ

I've been using the technique in this video. It's so much easier than getting down on the dining room floor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPaI...ature=youtu.be

The main way I make my sandwich is a process similar to ironing sheets. I work from the center out. I start by laying down the batting and ironing the front to the batting. Then I lift and spray baste. I move the quilt and batting around until I have the top totally spray basted to the batting. Then I trim the batting to within 3 inches of the side. I then repeat the process with the back. In the end, I will pin at least once per block just for extra security. I detest the process but it does iron out wrinkles front and back.

That is the one part of quilting I detest. No matter how I do it, it's always a pain. I usually use my dining room table. I've had good luck with Elmer's School glue, the one that washes out.

After many years of crawling around on the floor and spray basting, I saw the videos using boards and/or pool noodles. I ended up using some leftover 1/2" by 1 1/2" trim moulding as my "rollers" and set my ironing board next to my cutting table. Between the two of them I can pin-baste (using the Kwik-clip tool and curved pins that have the plastic covers on them) a queensize quilt pretty easily and at a comfortable height.

Love the center safety pin idea......thank-you

I use my dinning table too. I put the leaf in it and I use bed risers to bring the height up to a comfortable level. You can get bed risers on Amazon. For set of eight ( four each of two different heights) for under twenty dollars . The added height makes all the difference in the world on my back.

I use a a cheap set of foldable saw horses and a foam insulation 4x8 board. Menards, Home Depot etc has the materials. I just set it up in the garage when needed and when finished fold up the horses and stand the board on its edge against the wall. Very light weight and doesn't need much room.

I don't make quilt sandwiches larger than the 48" width so these are fine for my use. I use 505 to spray and then lightly pin them to help secure.

Another Sharon Schambers method user. I use 1 x 3 boards for the quilt and backing, pool noodles taped together for the batting and pins - no basting. I butt a 3 x 6 folding table up to my dining room table for larger quilts.