Crossing my fingers
 

Decided to jump in with both feet and try basting a whole quilt (52x72 lap quilt) with only Elmer's School Glue. It's for my aunt for Christmas and I'm running out of time for all the things I'm making for everybody. I would have preferred trying this experiment on something for me in case it doesn't work as well as I hope, but if this works, this could be the avenue to getting a lot more quilts done! Wish me luck! 😊

It always a bit nerve racking when you are tackling anything new... Luck be with you! Let us know how it works for you.

I definitely will let y'all know how it goes.

Are you sure it's worth the risk? I tried using spray glue to baste layers together for a quilted bag and it totally ruined it. The outside fabric puckered up on the batting, and was impossible to straighten out once the bag was finished. I won't use any kind of glue ever again.

Hope it's worth the risk! I already have 3/4 of it done.

I am anxious to see if it works. If so, that is soooo much easier than pinning.

I have basted several using Elmer's School Glue. Works great.....no pin, no puckers......it doesn't get any better than that!

I just basted another one with Elmer's School Glue. I am happy with this method so far. I've done 4. The biggest was lap sized but it didn't fit on my table so had to do in sections.

I'm jumping in with a King sized tomorrow. Lots of starch, lots of glue!

How do you put the glue on? I haven't seen anything about this method.

I'm curious, too!!

I just tried it for the first time yesterday on a table runner and I LOVE IT! I don't think I've ever had a project lie so smooth or quilt so easily. The binding was a cinch to put on and it was fabulous. I washed it today and it is perfect!!!

Would love to hear how you ladies do it? Pictures would be great too.

I just finished a quilt after basting with Elmers glue and it worked great.

I haven't really tried it before, but I'll take pics today and show as I go!

Well, so far, so good. I had to baste in sections (I do that even when I thread baste) because I don't have a place big enough to do it at once and I don't get up from the floor so well anymore, lol. It looks good so far and it's STUCK for sure. I'm not at all worried about it coming apart before I get around to quilting it. We'll see how it quilts. There are a couple spots on the back I can see the glue line a bit. I just tried big swoopy swirls straight out of the bottle. The quilt top side, I don't see any glue lines at all and it is smoooooth. :-) I'm anxious to get this quilted and see what I think, but I have a lot to do to get ready for Thanksgiving and I'm not sure if I'll get to it before then.

Ok, I'm not sure I did it right. This is the kind of glue and the kind of starch I use. I used 100% polyester batting and 100% cotton fabrics. I was not sure that the poly would work. However, it did a great job.

I wasn't able to do my King today, so I started and finished this cute wallhanging instead!!

I don't understand using the starch too...why?? The glue holds perfectly fine without using anything else. Actually, from what I read the glue IS a starch so you wouldn't need starch too. I'm in favor of making it as easy as possible.

Let us know how it works. I'd be afraid the glue would gum up my machine. But, it might just flake off inside and not really bother anything. Good luck!

I'm with you mucky, I have read on this board about some of the members using elmer's glue, but don't understand how it works, can someone let us know. Thanks

I'm lazy!
I didn't press my fabrics before I glued it down. So I spread glue, sprayed starch and pressed it once. That way, I totally covered the quilt and batting with glue/starch but there is no heavy glue build up. It stiffens the fabric and makes it "slick", makes it easier for me to control while I'm FMQ.
I've used starch and no glue (a few pins) for the same reasons. It's an affordable, watered down, spray version of the glue. YMMV.

I did a twin size quilt last week with glue.
Lay the batt down on some surface. I used my queen bed.
Smooth the back down on top of it. Lift up about half of the back fabric, drizzle glue all over the batt (you don't need a large thread, just a thin line). The lines can be up to 6 inches apart, or just put down spots. Fold the back down again and smooth very well. Now work on the other side. Fold back, drizzle glue, smooth down. You can let this sit until dry, or use a hot iron and just press down on a lot of spots to dry the glue a little faster.
When the back is dry, turn it over and do the same thing to the front. Smooth it on, fold back, drizzle glue, smooth back in place. Then do the other side. Let dry or use the hot iron.
After this was done, I picked up my quilt as if it were one piece of fabric, took it to the sewing machine and did FMQ. It never moved.
This is so much fun. I hope you try it.

Ws wondering would this work for applique instead of wonder under or steam2seam?

What a great question? I use Steam-a-Seam all the time but wouldn't it be great if this glue could be used instead ... especially when I have run out of the fusible and live too far from the store? Here's hoping someone has tried this and will report back.

I think Elmer's glue washes out so might no want to use on appliqué that is to be washed.

I recently used Elmer's Washable School Glue when making Disappearing Four Patches. I used tiny dots and sometimes used a thin thread. Pressed the blocks to set the glue. Sitiching was extremely easy and all the corners lined up perfectly. Each block has a crisp and sharp appearance. I would recommend this method.

Great thread! I've used this glue for bindings, but I would not have thought of using it instead of spray adhesive. I'll try it on my next quilt. Seems to me that it would be easier to center the back and front using glue instead of spray adhesive.

I think minstrel has hers finished, but here is a tute I found.




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Great info, thank you for posting.

I think it would be okay for needle turn or finished edges. I don't think it would be good for raw edge appliqué as the fusible helps keeps the edges from fraying when washed. I have used the glue to hold my pieces in place until I stitched them down. I did find when using the glue for appliqué that a little bit of glue and heat drying with the iron works really well. A lot do glue tends to go through all layers. But it does wash out with no problems.

i can't wait till I get a top done so I can glue baste, this sounds like fun. And a lot easier to work with than spray basting.

Thanks chuckbere15. You are probably right about the raw edge work done with fusible. Guess I had better stick with that. But for regular applique and for basting ..... like you, I cannot wait to try this out also. Did I mention how much I hate pinning ... and unpinning? And glory be, I even have some of that Elmer's glue!!!

Can't wait to try this (on a small item first, of course). I don't see why it wouldn't work. Thanks for all the info, ladies. Donna

I concur with LivelyLady. I've had the same experience with School Glue. As she said "it doesn't get any better than that!"

I've almost finished quilting my first using the liquid glue method and absolutely love it! By spreading the thin lines of glue on the batting and then smoothing down the top, it assures me there will be no wrinkles or puckers. Then there is the "no muss, no fuss" of spray basting and no fumes! I've had no issues quilting through the glue, even the bigger places where the glue blobbed out accidentally. It does not come loose while moving the quilt around. And the best part is that is washes out 100% when done. I just don't know how much better or easier it can get!

Applique
 

I use this for large pieces because it doesn't prevent fraying as well as the fusible and I like tracing onto the fusible. But I don't want to waste a fusible on a huge piece of applique. I trace the piece onto freezer paper without reversing the piece, iron the freezer paper to the right side of the fabric, cut it out then put a thin line of Elmer's Glue around the edge and place the piece onto the background. I iron the piece to set it in place before peeling off the freezer paper being very careful about pulling on the edges where it would fray. I sew the pieces down with the satin stitch so it is washable and away you go!
The picture is of a huge moose. If I remember correctly about 60X70 with some very large pieces which used the glue. The smaller pieces were with WonderUnder.
I forgot; that it is also the way I do the large pieces for the backgrounds, that is how I started using it in the first place years ago!

Wow, thanks everyone. I like to do appliqué work on sweatshirts and don't like the stiffness of fusible. I had wondered about using Elmer's for the appliques and now I can't wait to try it. I already bought it to try with quilt tops so I'm ready.