I have done both pins and thread basting using Sharon's tutorial and my knees and back thank her immensely!

I starch my backing. I use a banquet table or two for my quilt sandwich. They say you can
use a card table if that's all you have available. I use bull dog clips all around and thread baste.
I am not a pinner or sprayer. Always start in the middle and work my way out. If the quilt is
bigger, after I've basted the center I move the sandwich to one corner, put the clips back making sure everything is taut and then baste away. :)

Thank you for the tutorial. I'm going to have to go get some long boards!

would the spray basting work? I use it to keep things together long enough to thread baste.

The back of my quilts never look as good as the top. Always seem to have a few puckers and eyelashes and little knots. I just don't worry about them. I make my quilts for myself or family members . It's not like I am going to show them or sell them.

I starch heavily, then I put it on my cutting table, stretch it taut(not too much though), then tape it down with painter's tape, then I do the rest of the sandwich. Although I struggle mightily with the actual quilting, I've never had a pucker.

This is one of the biggest reasons I use my LA...and yes, I realize that everyone doesn't have one...BUT, if I didn't, I'd be right in here with you.

WOW! That's awesome! Thank you so much for sharing this and will definitely get the supplies ready for the next project.

I can definitely see why!

I have used large safety pins to hold the backing taut when I've had to layer it on carpet. It doesn't hold quite as well as a tile floor and tape but I didn't have any puckers. When I pin basted the layers, I slid cardboard under so it wouldn't be pinned to the carpet!