I bought clamps (2 to a package) at a dollar store for about $2 a package. They work great.....if your table edge is not so deep and wide that you can't use them. But recently I've begun using masking tape and that works just as well, I think. Not the blue kind but the wider cream colored tape. It sticks well -- in fact, will stick multiple times -- and holds the fabric. I think I'm done using clamps.

But I hate this part of quiltmaking so much that I'd hire it done if I could! Seriously, I really dislike it. However, the last one I did I used a larger table and it makes all the difference, I've discovered. A long conference table or even a large rectangular dining table works so much better than an oval drop leaf!

Sewnoma, thank you for sharing details on glue basting. Tried pins, didn't like, tried spray basting but worry about the fumes. I am going to try the glue on my next good size quilt.

That is NOT a small table! I use the tables at church. Town halls usually have large tables you could use.
I do my quilts like that, but use the Washable School Glue on each layer. If I spread a little bit with my fingers, it doesn't glob and make hard spots. It washes out easily, and washes off your hands, too.

If you use pins to baste, you have to work around them while you FMQ. I didn't like that, so I found that with the glue, you can just go from one end to the other without stopping except to move the sections under the needle. The only big stops are to change bobbins.

I have 2 ironing boards, same height. I have 2 thin sheets of plywood,6 x 4. I put up my ironing boards to my height, lay the plywood sheets acrooss (I have blue-taped the edges) and start layering the backing first, then the batting, and finally the top. I then use rubber-tipped C-clamps from Lowe's or Home Depot to clamp the whole shebang to my ironing boards. I don't have to bend over or crawl around to either pinbaste or glue and it works every time.

Automotive clamps from Harbor Freight work great.

longarmers many times will baste quilts for you. Don't know what the charge is but lots of people do it.

I wish I could tell you the name of mine but I don't remember. I bought them at a hardware store about 5 years ago. I cannot use the clamps that you have to squeeze real hard do to my arthritis. The ones I have are blue in color and they squeeze to open and to release. They are great clamps. I can move them around easily. Try your local hardware dealer and see what they have. AHA! I just saw the name of them on someone else's post; they are called "C" clamps.

I agree with Katrina. Go to following website: www.amaliescott.com/ . See the video 're: layering your quilt on a small table. Yes, ladies...standing up. She finds the center of whatever table she's using and uses skewers taped over these center lines. She then folds the bottom, batting and top in quarters and presses a nice crease in all three. First laye range backing on table, matching center over skewers taped to table. Same for batting and top, stopping to clamp to edge of table to keep from moving. Pin all over about a hands space apart and quilt as desired. I tried this with a queen-sized quilt with great results. No more crawling on the floor.

I glue baste now. No clips necessary. I tried the Sharon Schamber method and it didn't work out for me.

C clamps are shaped like a "C", with a screw going from the bottom to the top of the open section. They are usually made of metal (I've never seen any that weren't metal). They come in measurements of height as 2" high to 6" or more. You screw that section tight, and they can be made so tight as to make marks in your table edges. They are used in wood-working to clamp glued sections to dry. I used them to hold my quilt frame sections together. Worked well for that.