Please help a newbie get started!
 

I am a complete beginner and as my first simple project am creating a baby quilt that I plan to only tack by machine, not quilt fully. But I am such a newbie I don’t even know how to get to that stage. I have two questions I’m hoping you experts can help me with:

1. When pinning the quilt sandwich together, what kind of pins do I use? Can I use my straight pins down through and back up again or ? I’m worried the layers will shift during that process.

2. How do I ensure that my lines of tacking are straight and evenly spaced? I read somewhere that I should start in the middle, is that correct? Then what?

I realize for the experienced these are pretty silly questions but I really want my project to turn out…perfectly (ha, not likely as a beginner, I know!) so I’d be grateful for every bit of advice I can get.

Thank you!

If you pin, you should use safety pins. Lay everything out, push the pins through and back up but don't close them yet. Once you've pinned the quilt- think every 6 inches or whatever seems to work- then close the pins. If you need to move them it'll be easier and they won't pull for as much distortion.

You ought to baste around the whole quilt before starting the quilting.

they are not silly questions at all.
if straight pins are all that you have, you certainly can use them. however, they could fall out or you can seriously jab yourself with them. curved safety pins for quilters is the best choice. i'd found mine at walmart.
to make things evenly spaced and straight, you should mark your quilt top. you can use washable Crayola markers, or i sometimes just use a sliver of soap. there are also other markers ... just read the package to make sure it is the method you want to use because afterwards, you'll have to remove the marks.
keep us updated on how you do.
and welcome to the board.

You can get safety pins that have a bend in them. The bend is so the come back up easily. Or you could to a basting stitch throuth the layers. Start in the middle when quilting so that if the layers shift you do not end up with a pucker in the middle of the quilt. You can smooth the layers outward as you go in needed. To mark your quilt, there are may tools. Water soluble pens, air soluble, chalk. Use a ruler to mark evenly.

Good luck and welcome to quilting.

You can also thread baste your quilt. Not the most popular method compared to saftey pins, but does the job just as well. I go the hand route when it comes to basting, I baste everyting by hand.

Using the curved pins, there are cheap and expensive ones. I have found the more e xpensive pins have a better point and tend not to leave such large holes. Always start in the centre and work outwards. The one point no one has mentioned is making the sandwich. Put the right side of backing on the flat surface you are using. And tape down with a little tension then place the wadding on top laying if flat without stretching use fingers only. Now put top on right side up. Again lat flat with fingers and pin from centre. Keeping flat pin every 6 inches. You will use a great deal of pins. Back and wadding should be larger than top on all sides. PM is need more advice on this as it is important not to get wrinkles in back.

Most of us, use the floor (not carpeted) to pin our quilts. Tape down the back (right side facing floor), tape down ~ smooth and tight, but not stretched. Followed by batting, smoothed out. Finally top, centered on other two layers. LQS suggested to use your fist (fingers in and heal of hand down) to measure the distance apart of your pins, saves time from physically measuring. Better to over-pin, then having fabric shift. I also use bent quilters pins.

Good luck and cannot wait to see your completed project. :)

There are med size curved safety pins that are best to use. Do not use the big one since they will leave big holes. Also there is a thing called "Kwik-pin "(?) that will make closing the pins easier and save your fingers. Joanns sells it for about $10 but you can use a coupon making it really worth the $$$. (some people use spoons). I personnaly use 505 spray basting since the sandwich will really not shift. Also start from the middle and work out. Also alternate the direction of you stitching so help with no puckering. When you are say tacking what do you mean. Depending on the size of your block you may be able to do SID and have the quilting the correct distance apart. I ususally do SID with invisible thread so the stitching is not as noticible. If you need to do addition stitching such as diagona. you can use blue painters tapr. it is cheap and comes up easily and not leave sticky residue. The tape comes in a variety of widths so you can stitch lines on either side of it to secure quilting. Such as if you want lines 1 1/2 part use that width tape. If you want side by side lines than the tape is a good method. also another suggestion is to stitch on either side of the seams the same distance apart to secure. The package of batting should tell you haw far apart you quilting should be. Be sure to follow this recommendation as the manufacture knows best.

Personally, I hate pinning, I would rather spray baste or thread baste. You would mark where you would tack before hand. There are no stupid or silly questions. We all have to learn some way and if we don't ask questions, how would we learn, you can't learn everything out of a book or by UTube videos.

No stupid questions.... I am very new myself and I am needing to know all of these questions too! So thanks for asking! :)

Another basting method is Elmer's School Glue. Check the tutorials section here on the board. Glue is cheap. It's pretty fast and easy to do. If you don't want to buy a bunch of quilting supplies until you figure out where you are going with this hobby, glue is a good choice.

Quilters curved saftey pins or spray basting have been pretty well covered. Hope you do well on your quilt! Welcome to the QB!

I use pins, basting spray, and curved safety pins. Just depends on my mood for that quilt and how much my hands will let me do !LOL (Carpal Tunnel). Learn all you can from anyone; boards, blogs, library, DVD's guilds, local get togethers, and many sites online. There is so much that not just one has an opinion on, as it may differ from another. Lots of ideas that you need to try to learn your own way you like to do things.

Be sure to ask lots of questions as no question is stupid or ignorant, how does one learn if no questions are asked. IF any of us can help, just pm or chat at us through the Board. Welcome to the Board, good luck on your quilt.

i've tried many ways to baste a sandwich, but somethimes they still shift if you are quilting in a standard throat machine. I always make sure that my batt and backing are somewhat larger than the top so that if shifting does occur, you can trim it to fit.

Welcome to the board! There are no dumb questions so ask away as you join us on your quilting journey. Think most of your options have been covered.

You've gotten great advice so far. When I put the quilt 'sandwich' together, I use my table and big binder clips to hold things in place. Put the backing wrong side up, smooth and clip down. Repeat with the batting and use the same clips 2 hold those 2 layers, then the top. If you don't have any safety pins, I would thread baste. Just take a regular sewing needle and normal sewing thread and run a line of large basting stitches in both directions through your quilt. I usually do basting about a hand-width apart in both directions. Check the instructions on your batting as to how closely it needs to be quilted. This will tell you how closely you need to tack. You could easily mark those spots with pieces of masking or painters tape. Make a mark on the tape, measure and put the piece of tape on the top of your quilt where you plan to tack. You'll end up with little pieces of tape all over the top. If you have another marking tool that you prefer, use that. There are a bazillion marking tools on the market. We've all spent countless dollars on find the one that we like best and works best for us. Just remember to test any pencils/pens on scrap piece of fabric to make sure your marks come out before using on your quilt.

Enjoy the process.

I recently started using straight pins but I secure the pointy bits with pinmoores (or in my case disposable ear plugs). They are much faster to remove from the quilt than safety pins.

I have also used spray basting 505 and it worked quite well.

Make sure to baste sufficiently (I baste about palm-width apart). As for tacking the sandwich, I think you could treat it like Stitch in the Ditch. You can start at the edge of the center row and complete that row. Then move down one row. Like someone already said, the batting instructions will give you a recommended distance for quilting. If you stay within those guidelines, your quilt should be safe from shifting.

If you were to tie the quilt by hand, I'd say it doesn't matter where you start. The ties are not connected so there would be no pulling or shifting in the process.

I prefer spray basting as well. If you use straight pins than I would recommend pinmors, alot of quilters like them.

Wow, thanks everyone for all the great advice, I really appreciate it. I am just getting into crafty-type things and this one isn't even going to be a "real" quilt in that I won't be doing blocks (which makes me feel a little bit like a trespasser here since it pales in comparison to what you all do!); it's more a baby blanket with batting inside. I will be spray basting the first fabric to the batting, lying the second fabric right-side down on that, stitching most the way around and then turning the blanket right-side out, and then top stitching around the perimeter. And then the tacking throughout the top to secure the batting. Love the idea of using my hand width as a guide for spacing the tacks, I never thought of that.

And I will head to Walmart in search of some quilter's safety pins since that seems like a good way to go.

Thanks again for the advice, I really appreciate all the answers!