i have finished the quilt top and now need to complete the quilt. i have the batting and the backing, how do I proceed??

Now you baste the layers together. I use Sharon Schamber's basting method. She has a couple of videos on youtube and they're easy to find if you search her name there. There are several other methods for basting too.

everyone has different ways of doing things, so I will tell you mine. I do my own quilting as long arm service is more than I choose to spend.

I started out laying the backing fabric on the floor and I would tape the corners and a few places on the sides down to keep it straight.

then I layed the batting down and smoothed out the rinkles, then the top.

I started pinning with safety pins starting in the middle and working my way to the sides. I made sure I pinned at least every 4 inches or so, keeping in mind how I wanted to quilt it.

when done, I shoved half the quilt into my machine and using gardening gloves with the rubber dots on them (to keep a good grip on the fabric) and I start my free motion quilting. In the beginnning I did just an all over meander. Now I can do other designs, but that takes practice.

Since my knee is out of wack I am using a 6ft banquette table to lay my sandwich down on and that seems to work very well, the weight of the fabric seems to keep the layers straight.

Some people tie there quilts and some hand quilt them, but this is my method

hope it helps, feel free to pm me if more help.

When FMQ I use a darning foot and put my feed dogs down

You could also stitch in the ditch instead of FMQ

There are so many ways to baste your layers and then quilt them together. I suggest you do a search on this board and also check out You Tube. There are a lot of good videos out there that will help you. If this is your first quilt, you may want to stitch in the ditch - free motion quilting is wonderful but does take a lot of practice.

Patsy Thompson has a couple of videos on how she spray bastes her quilts. I haven't tried it yet, but plan to with my next one. The gal at daystyledesigns.com has a couple of really good videos on how she sets up her regular sewing machine for quilting. She also has been doing a design a day project with 365 different free-motion motifs. Just Googling "free motion quilting" will give you a wealth of information.

If free motion is something you don't feel comfortable starting out with, you can stitch in the ditch and maybe do something like a star, heart or some other simple shape. I did stars on my first attempt and made a cardboard template and used a chalk pencile to draw around the edges. I have also made the motive out of freezer paper, ironed it onto the quilt and quilted around the design.

You will need either a darning or hopping foot for the free motion and a walking foot or machine with IDT for the stitch in ditch or quilting around designs.

These are all great suggestions for basting :D
When it comes to the actual quilting, don't forget to read how close together the quilting needs to be. Then you can plan your quilting from there.

If you are going to SID or other straight line quilting, a walking foot really helps to keep the puckers from happening :D:D:D

Welcome to the board from Southern California!!!

Baste the layers together and then if machine quilting I recomend a wavy line approach. Sticting in the ditch is actually quite and aquired and practiced skill. It's way easier than Free motion quilting, but if you have for example sashing rather than trying to keep to a line, just wander down the middle with a gentle wave. You can do that with the walking foot on. far easier than trying and failing to stitch on a line.

Pay attention to the batting instructions about quilting distances. It varies greatly from manufacturer and product so keep a check. Even if two wadding look the same they may behave quite differently.

Before you baste do you need to shrink your batting? Check the package.

Plan out how you want to quilt your piece and then sleep on it. Take a picture of your quilt and print a few copies and draw your plan out on it. You can try different designs and then plan your attack.

Once you do get to quilting, relax remember to breathe and have a "re-heatable" dinner on standby for the family. Once you get going you may not want to stop!!!

test the tension on your machine on a little test sandwich with a few scraps of your fabrics and the batting you are using. You may have to change the tension quite a bit on your machine or maybe not at all. but better to test on a bit rather than have it go wrong on your precious top.

If this is your first top and quilt you might want to just get a couple of old cotton sheets and layer them up and have a play. That way you won't be nervous about your top.

Post us a picture We'd love to see it.

becks

i use this method to but i use my bed and put a long enough board under half way on the board then i i do my basting

I don't have the floor space or a table at home to put layers together, but the local library lets me use one of their conference rooms if they are available. Only problem with that is I can't use spray basting in the library and I have to pin. That's fine. It all works. Much easier on your knees or back to use a table. Sometimes I only put the middle section of the batting on at the library, quilt that, then add pieces at home with the spray baste. I can't remember the name this method is called, but I refer to it as a semi-QAYG.