Thank you! #3 - something to hold onto as you manipulate the quilt. Makes sense!

The reason I asked about stitching over the basting was because mine was easy to pull afterwards using conventional polyester thread. I guess the DMC tatting thread's ability to grip the fabric makes it "stickier"!

I pin basted several quilts and will never, never, never do that again. I hate hand stitching, so that's out. I glue baste with Elmer's School Glue. It's fast, easy, cheap and I've never had a quilt "slip," nor have I ever had a pucker. I tape my backing to the floor, pulling it smooth and tight. I lay out the batting on the backing, cut it to size and fold back half at a time. Drizzle more glue, smooth out the batting, and then do the other half. Same process with the quilt top. Let dry over night, and you're ready to quilt. The glue never releases no matter how much the quilt is handled. Then I wash the quilt with plenty of water and it's perfect. My sewing machine never notices the glue and it never gums up because it's dry. I can't imagine why I'd ever do it any other way. For wallhangings that won't get washed, I use fusible batting.

I hope I'm not being a pain and flogging the dead horse by asking all these questions, but what is obvious to those who are experienced is not so obvious to me.
Lois, the Elmer's School Glue is another option I like and am definitely looking into. I don't mind hand stitching (I say that now, but...) so the water-soluble thread option is appealing. Pulling out the stitching as you go is counter-intuitive to me (when you're in the fluid mode of drawing with stitches to repeatedly stop) but as yet I don't have enough experience to reject that option either. Only experience can determine our individual preferences and techniques.

Why not just use 505 spray to baste your quilt?

Manalto, just had to chime in:) From reading this, it sounds to me that you might like glue basting or even spray glue basting which hasn't been mentioned so far. You might do either a search here or on Youtube that will give you lots of information on those methods. Plus Sharon Schaumber has videos on Youtube demonstrating her methods. She is definitely a perfectionist in her work and it is awesome. But way out of my league! You just need to experiment and find your zone. BTW, I'm a safety pin baster:) Works for me. I feel that the time I spend bonding with my quilt while pin basting helps me decide how I will do the FMQ on my domestic machine. Good Luck!

I tried spray adhesive once and it was like I did nothing to hold the layers together. Maybe it was the product, the batting, my technique or something - but it didn't work at all. It's worth another try since others here vouch for it. How does it work so it doesn't gum up your needle?

Bless your heart, doing that pin basting. I guess I can see where the process would be meditative. (No, I really can't. :))

No, I would not spray baste, either. Fumes, over-spray, etc. And yes, my pinning is meditating. Plus I'm a turtle, slow mover, whatever. But, I need to say Leah's website is Daystyledesigns.com. I think I got it wrong before.

I don't think it has to do with the tatting thread gripping, but just that odds are your needle will pierce your basting thread at multiple points while quilting, and those parts will be harder to remove.

I really prefer to spray baste my quilts. When I baste with thread, my Quilting foot gets hung up on the large stitches of the basting thread causing my designs to be lopsided or completely messed up.

I'm new to this, but if you make the herringbone stitch basting from the back, can't you take small stitches on the front? (Or, remove the basting as you go, as others have recommended.) I'm gun-shy about the spray basting; it didn't work for me, a can costs $25, and then there are the fumes.