Longarmers Only Basting?
 

This might be a silly question, so I apoligize, but I have heard of some quilters getting a longarmer to only baste their quilts, then they take it home and quilt it themselves. My question: do the longarmers just put extra long stitches in a grid across the whole quilt or are they spray basting it? I'm guessing it's not pin basted, right? Sorry for the silly question and thank you for your replies:)

Yes, it is basting stitches in a grid over the entire quilt; just enough to keep all layers together. Jan

I've basted a couple of quilts for a friend who hand quilts them. She says it works great. She can take out the basting stitches as she goes, with never a pucker on the back or problems of any kind. I take care to square up the quilt as I go, the same way I do for quilts I machine quilt, and it stays square for her. I stitch a few large stitches every 3-4", (with thread stretched between the areas of stitches) in a grid all over. I do horizontal rows of basting, then vertical rows as far as my machine will reach, roll the quilt to the next section and repeat. You have to make a few stitches everywhere instead of just one. If you only make one stitch every 3-4", once you take the quilt off the frame, those long threads inbetween the stitches immediately start catching on parts of the frame, buttons on your shirt, everything in sight (ask me how I know). And the thread long breaks, so that one stitch easily comes out.

Some videos showing how some longarmers do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzb3okmRhug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyV7hcKhrM4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L7G2D9y9zM

When I get mine basted, the stitches are only going one direction about 4 - 5 inches apart. I am charged $.005 per square inch.

I like to quilt on my domestic machine and it is so much easier to quilt than a heavy pin basted quilt. I shy away from glue basting since I don't trust my low water washer to get all of the glue out.

I am having a long arm quilter friend baste my next queen quilt using water soluble thread. We have talked about it, and she is going to do a 3 or 4" all over grid with a 12-14 stitch per inch. She was a bit nervous about getting the tension right since she hadn't used the thread before, but I reminded her it didn't really matter since it would all go away! I just need it to stay in long enough to quilt on my sit down machine. Yes, I know lots of you pin baste big quilts quite successfully, but I absolutely hate it. She is going to charge me half of what she charges for a simple loose pantogram which makes both of us happy.

Thanks Peckish, for posting these links! New longarmer here :).

I've heard of longarmers doing this but haven't done it myself.

SSs tutorials and classes are awesome. Great instruction for flawless quilting. TFS
peace

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