I was working on hand basting my quilt sandwich this morning and started to wonder, how did they baste together in the "olden" days? I don't remember my Mother doing basting, but I'm sure she did. Safety pins were not very readily available to some people, so did they just tie the quilt or if hand quilting, did they hand baste? Just curious. Anyone know?

I'm not from the olden days, at least not yet; but don't ask my kids. I would think that many just tied them or hand basted. Maybe some would quilt them in their laps, or if they were lucky enough to have a large hoop, just move the hoop to a new spot and reposition everything as they went along.

I think they used hand quilting frames.

My grandmother used a quilting frame, which did not require basting as I recall. The quilt was rolled from one side to the other as she finished the hand quilting.

speaking of quilting frames, I have one I would like to sell if anyone is interested PM me.

Have a cousin in her 70's who's a really good quilter and she still hand bastes her sandwich...and that's what they did...

I guess I am from the olden days. Quilts were put on large quilting frames for quilting bees and smaller frames (but the same idea) for home use. I remember both. The large frames allowed several women on each of the four sides for quilting. Many quilts were done by church or community groups. This was also a way for women to get together and visit (or gossip). The children played under the quilt (that would be me).

The more I think about it, my Mom had a quilt frame that hung from the ceiling and I remember her rolling it from both sides. So maybe she didn't baste at all. I wish I had that old frame - could use it in my house now.

My Granny basted her's, I got to help.