When you press, can you press over polyester batting or just cotton? I am afraid of smashing the polyester flat.

Some good info. to be had here. I have the items I need to glue baste, but I only ever planned to do small areas; I never, ever thought to do an entire quilt. Except for when stabilizing machine embroidery, I am anti-spray, so I've been pin-basting my quilts for many years. This washable glue method is an alternative I might try, so am tickled to be able to refer to this thread. Thank you, Jan, for the question and to those of you who gave detailed responses.

FYI- Another good discussion on Elmer's for basting (and binding, and piecing, and...and...and...)

What I've gleaned from both of these discussions (the abridged version):

Specifics: Elmer's = SCHOOL glue (other thread) or WASHABLE school glue, or Elmer's glue sticks. NEVER Elmer's Spray Adhesive.

What you can do with it: Anything you want (piecing, binding, basting)

How you can apply it: Any way you want. Just don't make globs. Use special tips, paintbrushes, or kitchen tools...or don't.

How to thin it: 3:1 (Glue:Water), or don't.

Have I got all this right?

You got most of it right except that diluting the glue was more like 1 part glue, 3 parts water
but this is up to you. This formula seems to work for me. It just happened to have a little
glue in my bottle and diluted it and it worked just as well. Win-win.
Remember, there are no rules. :D

You could try using Roxanne's basting glue - a great way to hold applique in place, just tiny dots in well-placed spots on the applique, but do not put it too close to the edge to avoid the needle and thread go through it.

Thanks, EP, for the correction on that. I am SO going to try gluing on my Blooming 9!

To stay on topic, I'll probably use a combination of methods noted here in the thread, since there are many seams to line up:

• dots on the seams
• thin lines on the straight sections
• very thin line I'll use on the binding
• I don't have anymore spray baste at the moment, so perfect time to test out on the sammich! I like the looks of A & D, so I'll probably have something that looks more like shorthand than morse code or stalag(mites/tites...turn your head sideways and take your pick :D )

Thanks again for the thread, Jan!

I'm quilting right now a lap quilt that I basted with Elmer's! It's working out great but I went way over board with the amount of glue that I used. It was my first time and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss any spots so I swirled, lined and dotted with the glue. That baby is stuck together and no matter how much I toss it around, it isn't moving anywhere.
I taped my backing to the floor like you would pin basting then I laid out my batting on top, pulled back the batting half way and glued, glued, glued. I smoothed it down and then did the same to the top fabric. I pressed it a bit with an iron and let it dry over night.
Next time I will do the grid and trust in the fact that you don't need to cover every inch. Just put the glue where you would a pin. I have hard blobby spots that my machine doesn't appreciate sewing through but thats my fault and could have been avoided. As long as all the glue washes out ill be happy and probably won't baste any other way. Good luck!

I am paying very close attention to this thread. Thanks for starting it, Jan. I think someone mentioned in an earlier thread on gluing that they used a wet paint brush to spread it, and that seems to make sense based on other gluing experiences I've had (non-quilting).

All I need now is a square ironing table that's about 3 yards on each side! Wouldn't that make this much easier?!

Twinkie, I had just read that post this afternoon and was wondering how to share it. I think it's a very good explanation and although I'm super new at this, I'm making a wall hanging for each of my two grandkids' birthdays and plan to give this a try. I also read a tute on hanging a quilt to spray baste it. Sounds pretty cool, as well. MY DH is going to help me set up a design wall that I can also use for this purpose if I want.

I drizzle it (directly from the bottle) sparingly on the BATTING as in picture A. Then I put either the quilt top or back on the batting and smoooooth it out with my hands (n larger projects, I do this in sections). Because I am impatient, I use a hot, DRY iron to further smooth out the back or quilt top and quickly dry the glue. Once one side of the quilt is completely glued and dry, I flip it over and repeat the process on the other side. I usually use a few safety pins around the edges of the quilt to be sure the layers don't separate during quilting--but I suspect that is just me being over-cautious. Hope this helps.