I had one once and it jammed up after many bad words and a lot of wasted time, I am ashamed to say I contributed to our landfill problems and threw that sucker out! I've just finished a quilted banner for our church's stewardship campaign and used spray basting. It was fabulous. I have requested some 505 for my birthday as well as quilting gloves and a acrylic quilting extension for free motion quilting. Also I requested the fabric silicon spray. Now all I have to do is wait until early May! Husby likes having lots of ideas so I put comments on the Amazon wish list like I really, really want this for my birthday. I'm so glad he can read.:p

I just downloaded a series of beginner FMQ tutes and the instructor showed how she used her quilt wall to hang the quilts for spray basting. I can't wait to try this method. Now all I have do is practice, practice, practice!

I love Sulky spray- non toxic, is repositionable and doesn't gum your needle.

You said the truth GagaSmith! I stumbled across mine recently and wondered how I hadn't chucked it before now!

No the spray basting is great. If you make sure it's smooth with your hands you won't have any trouble with the spray basting. Just be sure to ventilate when you spray. I love it, you just lightly spray the bottom add batting and spray batting and then put the top on. I had a gun baster and it just sucked! You have too much room for play in the quilt. That is if it what I think of (puts a little tack in like they use in department stores?! I still have it in a drawer hasn't been touched in years.

Bought one and a grid they said to use...don't know where the grid went but never opened the package or the extra plastic things...going into a garage sale. Much prefer iron on batting or I pin baste..If it is something I'm going to make special I will probably baste it. In my life time I've only had one-maybe 2 that had a pucker in the back and so happy about that. I really clamp the backing down tight and lay the batting on it and smooth it out real well and sometimes let it rest a day or two when using most battings and then smooth it out again before doing whatever whatever way I am basting. Spray basting works well but I do that outside if I can as that sticky stuff can get on the floors unless you lay paper or an old sheet or fabric down.

I have had a basting gun for almost 20 years and I use it quite a bit. It uses red or clear plastic tacks and I haven't had any problems with it. Yes, it sometimes hangs up but all tools have glitches occasionally. I love 505 basting spray. It is my very favorite if you don't over-spray and get the item too wet and get it all over the floor or table or you. :) Basting with large safety pins is good for smaller projects like table runners or toppers but my least favorite method is hand basting with thread. It's just not my favorite style.

I was looking at purchasing a basting gun but think I will just buy some more 505 instead. The folding tables (I use two) and the clamps really work well to sandwich the layers together. I have also used the top of my mattress on sheet changing days and just pinned the backing down by placing straight pins down through the backing fabric into the mattress. This seems to hold well and you have a large surface at a good height.

I tried a basting gun but it kept jamming and completely broke before I even got through one set of tacks. Might have just been a defective unit but it totally turned me off to the basting gun idea.

Now I use pinmoors and regular quilting pins. I HATE safety pins, but I love my pinmoors!

I bought one in the mid 90s. I use it now to keep my socks together so they don't get lost during the laundry process.

If you have a LQS, ask them if you can use their classroom to pin baste a quilt. They are such a valuable resource when you are having any difficulty with the quilting process.

When you have the backing clipped or taped to a table, it should NOT be tight like a drum but if you slide your hand over the backing, the fabric should not shift. If the backing is to tight, your top will then be puffy. Are you using enough pins?? I always make sure that there is a pin every 4". That is why spray adhesive is so popular.

I have a basting gun and used it for years..... i made my own "frame" out of a plastic grid overhead florescent light cover from Lowe's to put under my quilts so that i could do it more efficiently. I loved it....having spent many years inserting TOO MANY safety pins into quilts. HOWEVER....since i was introduced to the Elmers washable glue method here on the Board, that is the only method i use. Still have the gun and tacks...just in case....but you should really give the Elmers a try.

I had problems with tucks and it didn't seem to matter what the method was for sandwiching. I discovered......

It was my sewing machine. Even with a walking foot, I'd get tucks on the back. So.....

I now use a 1916 Singer 127 handcrank. ..... no tucks, beautiful stitches..... problem solved. And for FMQ, I use a Singer 1952 15-91.... drop the feed dogs, use the darning foot..... again, beautiful stitches, no problem. It was that $$$$ machine..... I just use that for mending now.

I've never used one because most of the comments I've seen about them were negative. I started out pinning, then moved to thread basting because I hated having to stop my quilting to remove a pin. I haven't seen anyone on this thread mention glue basting. It's what I use now exclusively. I LOVE it. No puckers, no gumming up my needle, quick and easy, cheap and washes out nicely. Just remember it has to be Elmer's Washable School Glue. I'll never go back to any other method.

Hate it. Quilting spray.

I found the QuilTak basting gun quick and easy compared to thread basting, but I was bothered by the holes it left, and it didn't seem to hold the layers together very tightly. I am about to try the Sharon Schambers thread basting method for my first attempt at machine quilting and am quite excited about it. It seems it should be so much easier without the quilt bottom clamped down, which was the thing that made the traditional thread basting method so difficult for me.

Have you considered Elmer's glue basting? I always had trouble with the over spray and finding a good place to do it. I will not do anything but Elmer's basting anymore.

I have and used a basting gun..,trick is to get a grill type panel...like is used for drop ceilings...slide under layered sandwich and shoot.....the spaces of that grill design is perfect to fit the tip of that gun...let's tabs go straight in......no prob

[QUOTE=ManiacQuilter2;6648870 . . . .

When you have the backing clipped or taped to a table, it should NOT be tight like a drum but if you slide your hand over the backing, the fabric should not shift. If the backing is to tight, your top will then be puffy. Are you using enough pins?? I always make sure that there is a pin every 4". That is why spray adhesive is so popular.[/QUOTE]

I "weight" the edges of the backing with curtain rods or yardsticks. I wrap some of the backing that is hanging over the edge of the table around a yard stick and pin it. It gives just enough weight/tension to the backing to keep if from wrinkling/rumpling.

I have used a basting gun to baste a small child-sized quilt (never a larger one, though). I put the backing, batting and the quilt top in my Q-Snap floor frame and basted with the gun. It really helped to have everything off the floor when trying to use it. I have the little grid thing they sell for the gun, and that's a very useless notion - :) - way too small and you have to keep moving it under the quilt. Talk about time-consuming!

I've never used the gun, but when I pin baste I tape down the backing pretty tight on the floor and I make sure to use A LOT of pins. I spread out my hand here and there and make sure I have a pin within hand distance. I just finished a quilt with 16 inch blocks. Each block I used 9 pins...

....handcrank for quilting? That has got to be tricky..........maybe when you were using the $$$ machine you were not guiding in sync with the feeding/ stitching, thus folds, tucks...and now with hand ranking I would imagine you have to go slower and therefore not causing folds, tucks....I don't know, just trying to picture it...

i have one. I only ever us it for small stuff though. I find it still allows shifts in the fabric, I use spray basting and the fusible batting and like it better. But the basting gun did come in handy at valentines day. I made labels and attached them with that thing to bags of goldfish for my son's daycare class

I have had a couple of different ones...
No more. I have had them break or get stuck in the needle too many times.
I think the 505 is a great product...just remember to use in a ventilated room.