I never baste or pin.

I trim off the excess batting and backing and then do a wide & long zig zag stitch all around the entire edge of the
quilt using a walking foot. On my Bernina 1031, its set at 5mm width and length. It works great.
I don't pin the binding as I go except for when I get to the corners. I use a walking foot to apply binding or my Pfaff with the IDT(built-in walking foot).

I machine baste the edges of my quilts with a fairly long stitch trim it and then sew on the binding. This works great for me. Oh yeah, I always use my walking foot.

Thank you everyone for your input - it was a great help to me.

Jackie

I pin 'em. Never thought of basting the edges, but I'll have to try it.

I started zig zagging the raw edges when I was fairly new quilter. I'd got the binding all sewn on to my first quilt and noticed that not all of the backing had been caught in the binding. Once I figured out that zig zagging would solve this problem, I kept on doing it.

I baste around the perimeter of the quilt usually right after quilting it and before the binding is put on.

I use saftey pins on the edge...works for me

I machine baste with a long stitch about 1/8" inch in from the edge. It takes a bit to do this, but I find it is worth it.

Wall hangings and lap quilts I surge before binding. Large quilts, machine baste. I like flat even edges. D in TX