Basting Ack! It's baffling
 

I finished Mr. Chillingsowrth. He is 62x59. I tried basting it, and the quilt won. I tried pin basting and I thought it had too much gaps.I bought 505 spray, and it was fair but I realized my back (which I know should be 4 inches larger) wasn't large enough. I didn't spray the top batting, just the bottom side of the batting. I don't mind buying more batting, and certainly quilt backing at 108 inches wide.

I looked on youtube, and even on Leah Day's website who I stalk. So after spending a few hours trying to baste it, I decided to take it to a shop to be quilted, or atleast basted. I have an idea how I want to quilt it, but my machine, a Janome New Home 2014 doesn't have a long throat. I can quilt it, but the quilt seems too large to try. I know how to quilt it,but basting it together, apparently I'm not very good at it. I've only made a baby quilt for a class, and I made a few smaller sized quilts, and one about the size of this one, but it's quilted fair.

So should I take it to the shop and let them quilt it? I can do binding, and I do it well. My next quilt will be sent out, it's much larger. I don't know how to baste something this large. (it covers the top of a queen sized bed, or the whole kitchen floor.) Do you send them to the quilter when they are this size, or do you do them yourself, if you have a home machine. I'm baffled I couldn't baste it.

I spray baste mine on a table, one half at a time, starting in the middle. It is doable, just take your time. I have quilted a few king size quilts on my home machine with a 7 inch harp. Mark the quilt into 4ths. Starting in the middle and work to the side of each section. That way you only have half of the machine in the harp at a time.

Then I need a different back, and batting. I will start over, and do this on the kitchen table.

I always totally make my quilts including quilting them. You could think about QAYG, several different methods.

Many long arm quilters also offer a basting service. You could check in to that also.

I baste my quilts - regardless of size - on my cutting table. I start by centering the backing on the table and use the large, office binder clips and clip all around the edges. Next goes the batting and get that all centered. Use the same clips to hold that down. Finally the top with the same process.

Depending on the size of the quilt I will either thread or pin baste - usually pin. I start in the center and pin about a hand-width apart in all directions. Same if I thread baste - start in the center and about a hand-width apart. Once I have the center completed, I shift the whole sandwich to get to the next area and follow the same process.

It's tedious when doing a king size quilt as it needs to be shifted and re-clipped multiple times but it beats crawling around on a floor - if I had that much open floor space, which I do not.

Can't help you with the quilting part in your machine as I'm a hand quilter.

Have you looked into the Sharon Schamber method of basting a quilt? You can find it on YouTube. I don't pin baste because it is very heavy by the time i finish pinning my queen size quilts.

I use elmers washable school glue. I don't dilute it or spray it or paint it in. I drizzle a thin bead in a grid sort of where I would put pins. Search here on the board and read up on it. It has really made a huge difference for me. When dry it does not gum up the needle and it always washes out. If you read what everyone else is saying you will get a lot of good information.

I have checked on Sharon Schaumberg's basting method. I don't have a quilting table, but do have a dining room table.All of these are great ideas. I'll buy some large quilt clips. But I'm not sure they'll work on my dining room table. I almost did this one QAYG, but I'm not sure how to do it. I'll check youtube.

I just tried this method and it worked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPedPf4hdVY

I take my quilts to church to put them together. I am a hand quilter and I can pull tables together to lay everything out.. I hand quilt so I safety pin the layers . Can't do that any more with my arthritic knees.

I quilt my quilts, all sizes, on my Janome 6600. The basting is challenging but doable. I also use my dining room tabled opened up and basting spray. The video I watched was pressed after spraying which really keeps the layers together but you can still reposition if you have to. My Janome has a 9" harp space so that helps also. A normal harp space is 6". Good luck.

Look up Sharon Schambers method for basting. Being an award winning quilter, her method might give you some ideas.

Has anyone else tried this method?

This can be done with any size quilt with a minor investment of a few boards and it really works. There is a part one and part two videos.

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

Hope you find it useful.
peace

I use this method all the time for anything wider than a baby quilt. The more you do it, the faster you get at it. Never any creases or tucks on the batting. I think the video shows hand-basting, but I use spray basting. If the project is really big, I will add some pins, because I quilt on a 9 in. harp machine, and on a large quilt, that can involve a lot of repositioning. Adding the pins helps avoid any shifting of the sandwich layers when pushing and pulling through the harp.

I did the Sharon Shamberg way a couple times. I have found if I center my table and mark it , I'm going to use then quarter fold the fabric, and press the folds with my hands and center all. I have found I can do a running baste stitch ( gma called it) through the center folds. I do a cross baste to determine my center just incase a distraction and knot those ends. Showed my neighbor this when she needed help with a over-sized king size quilt (more a like California King with sides to the floor). We did this on her kitchen table (36" x 60"). She quilted it on her domestic. She also has a 401 in a desk cabinet. Propped the ironing board behind the sewing machine, used the round clips (like closed horse shoes) and couple small table to the side to deter the weight drag. Took her 3 days to quilt (she does have a life). This was a bright colored quilt and she actually wore sunglasses at times to quilt it. We wore sunglasses when we basted it. If it can be done on a California king and on a domestic you can do a smaller on your domestic.

I think one of the most important things to be considered is not rushing. From conversations over the years I think most quilters find the basting the worst, most difficult and unsatisfying part of quilting. If the object is to quilt the quilt, then embracing basting as part of the whole is really important and to do it well means to not rush the process. Practicing on smaller quilts first before doing a huge quilt might make the task a bit easier because it is a learned thing to do. Learning every process and step along the journey is important and equal to the enjoyment and satisfaction at the end.

Over the years I have learned to work slowly, don't rush to "get it done". Enjoy what you are doing every step and stitch along the way.

peace