Basting queen quilt
 

I am working on a queen size quilt My quilt top is a disappearing nine patch. I am wondering what is the best way to baste the quilt. I don't want to have to get down on the floor. I am trying to decide if I want to do Quilt as you Go so I would only have to baste a small section, which I could do on a table or if I should try Sharon Schamber's technique of board basting

is there a church, library, or quilt guild where you can use their long tables? and you may get lucky and get some quilting volunteers to help. several of us helped another quilter yesterday and the basting was done in no time.

That is the hardest part of quilting for me! I do have a kitchen island that sometimes works well. Sometimes a friend and I meet at her work place (and where I retired from) and we push together some big tables and pin 3 or 4 quilts at a time. Sometimes the LQS has an open work day and I use their tables too. Good luck finding a place!

I strip our bed down to the bottom sheet and lay out the layers on that. I use a computer chair and that lets me work along and around the bed comfortably to baste it altogether.
I have rheumatoid arthritis; getting up and down and working on the floor to do something like this is not funny these days. The bed neatly solved my problem :)

Mary

I love the board basting method...works best if you cover your boards in flannel or batting, so the fabric clings to it. It is so much easier! I actually need a longer set of boards also for larger quilts.

Have you used this method with large quilts?

I also love the Sharon Schamber board basting technique. The only drawback is that you need a table as wide as your quilt. I haven't done a queen size yet, but I see no reason why it would pose any problem (I've done doubles). It's so enjoyable to baste that way, and the herringbone basting stitch done with tatting thread holds brilliantly, even when quilting by machine.

when i read the title of this thread I totally misread it .... basting queen quilt....as in "basting queen" as a person's title....sorry ......looking forward to a picture or two when you get it completed.

I have NEVER gotten down on the floor to baste a quilt! I use a 7 foot table (that's only 84" long) to baste any size quilt.
I use large bulldog clamps from the office supply store to stabilize the layers, one at a time, leaving excess length hanging off each end.
Starting in the middle I hand baste, without boards although I've tried them and they're okay, going from the middle to one side as far as I can go. I leave a long length of thread at the start so that I can rethread the basting needle and go the opposite direction when I 'm ready to.
Then I leave the thread and needle in the fabric, start another row of basting about 4-5 inches apart, and baste in the same direction, and stop as I did before.
After I've basted as many rows as I can on that width of the table, I rethread the needle and baste the other direction as many rows as possible.
At that point I unclamp the layers, shift the quilt one direction or the other, adjust and reclamp the layers, and continue the basting of the previous rows to the edge of the quilt.
When that is done I unclamp, shift, reclamp, and baste as needed to finish the quilt.

This process takes me the better part of an afternoon, or even a day, but it's my preferred way above all others.
Quilts that I have basted have been dragged around, hooped and re-hooped, folded, opened, spread on a table, refolded, turned and rehooped yet again.....and I've NEVER had a problem with the layers shifting or coming apart. And when I handquilt, it takes a year or more!`

Jan in VA

Many longarmers will baste your quilt for a small fee.

I'm with Jan in VA. This is the same method/process I use - just a different sized table. I have one of the craft-type tables that Joanns sells but mine came from elsewhere. I have done from wall hanging to kings on this table. I have both thread basted and pin basted any of those sizes (though I prefer thread basting the monsters - less weight while I'm quilting).

I, too, hand quilt and, like Jan in VA, that can take some time when doing queen and king sized quilts. No shifting issues at all.

I do mostly large lap size. My boards are 6 ft. I need to get some 8 ft (96 inches) so I can fit the larger ones I'm working on. I used inexpensive flannel to cover mine.

Forgot to mention that I do mine with spray baste this way...not hand basting. :)

I have quilted dozens of queen and NEVER got down on the floor. I would go to my LQS which had the ordinary banquet tables (with the folding legs) in their classroom. I would call ahead to see when the classroom wasn't being used. It was always enjoyable to spend the day at my LQS.

Forget hand basting. Use Elmer's washable school glue, cheap, and it works very well. Libraries, churches, quilt shops, and meeting rooms usually have large tables you could probably use without cost. Line them up to make whatever size you need.

I never get on the floor, would kill my knees. I use a table and move the fabric over. I bought a QuilTac thing but have decided to either have a long armer baste it for me or keep on using the QuilTac.

Do you have more info on how you do this? Thanks!

I have been using Sharon Schamber's method, with Elmer's glue basting. It works great, and no problems sewing through the glue. Since I 'discovered' Elmer's, basting is a breeze.

I use 2 ironing boards and a sheet of thin plywood. I trim the wood to the size I want, usually48", and lay it on my 2 ironing boards adjusted to the height I want. (I have covered the board with fabric.) I start in the middle as Jan suggests and work my way across, move down, and work my way across. I also thread about a dozen needles before I start so I don't have to rethread so often. I work my way down and then work from the center up on the other side. I can walk around the ironing board and it is comfortable to use. I could never get on the floor.

I have a hard time finding tables wide enough or long enough to baste/pin a queen sized quilt--I have checked libraries, might be able to use tables at senior center, even Subway and not had much luck. I have used my cutting table and using a Craftsy video suggestion I tape chop sticks in the center of the sides and the ends of the table so that I can fold my layers of backing/batting/top and following the crease lines match up the center of the quilt to those "bumps" and using my bulldog office clamps I secure it to the table. Then when I've got that area pinned/basted I move the quilt so that another area can be pinned/basted. No floor basting/pinning for me.

Ditto to QuiltnNan. My quilt quilt meets in a library and when we have a work day, I pull out several tables side by side and do my layering on the tables rather than the floor. This "technique" is catching on because well.... we are all maturing and crawling on the floor is not always the best way for get the job done. I have done the same at my church and even in one of the empty classrooms at the university where I work. Shhhhhhh What happens at night or on the week-ends in those empty rooms is a secret! :o

I've longarmer do basting, but it wasn't exactly a small fee- about $50 if I remember. It was a queen size quilt. The other thing was that it went into the line of quilts to be done, & it was probably 6wks or so before I got it back. :(

I've started using a table too, I only have a regular sized fold-out table (I think it's about 3x6 or something; not huge) and so far I've only used the technique on small quilts and that has worked. I haven't done a large quilt yet.

I use Elmer's to baste and I haven't been securing anything down first, which seems so wild and wrong according to everything on the internet but is also how I remember my grandmother doing it so I've been trying it out. (Although her quilts were tied, so slightly different 'animal' - I think tied quilts are a little more forgiving if your backing is a little loose.)

What I do is, first I fold everything in half in each direction and use pins to mark the mid points on all 4 edges of the batting, backing, and top; 2 pins go into whichever side will be the "top" of the quilt so I can keep it all straight. Then I lay my batting down first, with the double-pins centered on the short edge of the table. Smooth it all out then lay the backing down on top, lining up the double pins at the top first (to make sure I have it on the right direction) and then making sure the rest of the pins line up as well. Smooth that all out, peel back one side, drizzle glue, smooth it back down, peel back the other side, glue, smooth. Then I hit it with a hot iron briefly to set the glue. That's an important step or it'll shift on me as I'm re-draping it. Then I scootch it around and do the rest of the quilt in steps, following the same method. Then flip it over and repeat for the top; starting off with the double pins lined up again.

On smaller quilts...this has worked perfectly so far, even without any clamps or tape to hold things taut. I think the repeated smoothing and all the glue takes care of it OK. I'm a little scared to do my next big quilt (I have a king and a queen in line) but my back and knees just don't like me crawling around on the floor anymore so I'm really hoping this works out!

If not, the local sewing center allows people to user their classroom tables as long as they aren't already in use. They just ask that you call ahead, and they forbid spray basting. They have enough tables I could easily push them all together and fit a king size on top with no draping. No idea how I'd reach the middle of a quilt that size, but I'll cross that bridge if/when I get to it!

A few years back, I purchased two 8' long folding tables for a yard sale. I put them side by side in my finished basement (where my quilt studio is located). Basting is a breeze now!