i'm in the middle of safety pin basting a quilt sandwich and i thought some of you might not know about this tip.

once you tape down the quilt back and have the batting and top in place - slide a marble under the quilt back to ride along the table or whatever surface you baste on.

the marble makes it easy to pin thru all three layers with ease.

you just insert the curved pin into the sandwich right next to the marble and close the pin.

then slide the marble to the next area you wish to pin and keep repeating until the entire sandwich is done.

How clever! Did you come up with that?

yes, when my file cabinet broke this perfect steel ball bearing came free and i thought this would be perfect to help me baste since it rolls so smoothly.

now i just tell people to use a marble instead of breaking their file cabinet.

Thanks Klue, now that is a great tip! I have DH's collection of marbles from when he was a little boy, I'll use one of those!


Ninnie

How clever.

Thanks for the tip. I will try it on the quilt I'm working on.

Judy

What a great idea! I must have a marble around here somewhere even though I have lost many!
:D

LOL

you could always knock another loose :lol:

Cool tip thanx for sharing :)

That is a great tip. Thanks so much for sharing.

You are SO clever!! Thank you for sharing this!

Now thats a great tip! Will save me from pinning to the carpet when I dont use my table!!!

that is so cool! i'll try that myself, but I've lost my marbles! :roll: :roll:

thanks for that great tip...

2 questions:
--as an example of my minimal formal training... what do you mean by "after you tape"? I don't tape anything... should I? I do pin baste.

--is that you on your avatar? if so, you are one of those glaring unfairnesses in life; there are people with great looks and great brains too! Ha.. my own daughters are gorgeous (adopted so no thanks to me) one is smart too and the other is super-smart... (also no thanks to me). and as I get older, my doctors seem to be getting younger and more beautiful. So, now that I know it's possible, be honest, is that you?

cathy

LOL - yes, that is me in the pic.

i like to tape down my quilt back making it really smooth. i use gaffers tape but painters tape works just as well.

i tape down all the corners and the center of each side. if the quilt is super big i would even tape in more locations.

then i lay down the batting and smooth it out (like a nut) and tape it to the quilt back, then i put down the top and smooth it out (like a nut) and tape it to the batting.

then i slide the marble under the backing. it pops up the sandwich just a tiny bit so that you can put the pin thru with ease.

I still don't get the tape thing. What are you taping it to?

i tape it down to my kitchen table or the pool table depending on how big the quilt is.

it helps to keep everything really smooth and even.

i also use post it notes to help with registration marks when i want to line up certain things on the quilt back with elements on the quilt top.

i also sewn on my hanging sleeve while i'm quilting the sandwich and i line the bottom of the sleeve so that it falls in a border seam. this way when i stitch in the ditch i'm sewing down the bottom of the hanging sleeve.

then when i sew on the binding i'm sewing down the top of the hanging sleeve.

the post it notes help me keep track of all these landmarks when i'm laying down the other layers of the quilt sandwich and i can line everything up.

the piece of wood that i lay over the table to baste is also marked every 1/4 each but i find the post it notes to work better - i would forget the measurement mark - so now i just put a post it on the location.

Thanks for the tips :D

Hadn't thought of that one klue, thanks for sharing!

I don't have any marbles laying around and lost all mine years ago. I guess I'll have to go break my file cabinet! :lol:

I use notes a lot too, words and arrows. I like the idea with your hanging sleeve. I've been hand-sewing onto the back so the stitching wouldn't show in front. Since hand-sewing is hard for me now, your idea to align the stitch-in-ditch quilting, from the front, is going to be great! Maybe I can do that with the label too.

i sew my label to the hanging sleeve by machine before i set up the sandwich.

i also tuck scraps from the quilt behind the label in case repairs ever need to be made in the future.

Oh, my gosh, machine-sewing the label onto the hanging sleeve first is such a great idea. You are just a fountain of helpful tips, thanks!

Well duh....I never thought about scraps behind the label!!!! Thats a great idea! :D

What a great idea. I never would have thought of that. Thanks.

This describes exactly how I sandwich my quilts - without the marble. What kind of nut are you talking about? I'm a nut, does that count? Although I hate the sandwiching part, I'm now looking forward to the next time so I can try the marble. Think I'll look for a cob.

The "like a nut" I don't understand.

What do you mean???

I understand smooth - - -wrinkle free - pressed/ironed before layering, etc.

LOL

i'm OCD so "like a nut" means i have to smooth out imaginary wrinkles for a really long time.

i don't have a fixed number that some OCD people fixate on but i do have to go by a feeling. i can't stop until i reach this feeling of satisfaction.

DH actually laughs at me when i'm doing this - its a bit obsessive.

have you ever seen the TV show Monk? well thats me without the crime solving.

Sounds like a great idea!

Thanks.

I say whatever works for you :wink: :lol:

What a wonderful idea. Plus I did not know you needed to tape down all three layers. I have only been taping down the backing. I will remember to tape all three layers on my next quilt.

That is such an awesome tip. My neighborhood friendship quilting group just happens to be having a meeting next week and we are to bring along a tip for quilting. Hope you won't mind me sharing yours. You are a lifesaver...and a pretty one at that.

Wow! What a great tip!! Now I know what to do with my marble. This is one of the best ideas for basting in ages. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the great tip, now if I could only find one of my "lost marbles" lol. I wouldn't dream of NOT taping my quilt back to the table, floor or carpet. How would you ever keep it from moving around, unless you have the big clamps to do the job.

i'm so glad you guys like the tip - feel free to spread the word throughout the quilting world :-)

Klue.........your avatar is beautiful, like the girls said. Love the place you were at. Read lots of you messages on the board and you really know what you are talking about. Thanks for all of your smarts! Really great ideas. I tape my backings, but never thought about taping the batting and the quilt top, but WILL start doing so, and the marble, OH! what a great idea. I just finished sandwiching a quilt with curved safety pins, :shock: fixing to quilt on my machine. I have another quilt top that is ready to sandwich and I will try the marble. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was just fixing to order that little tool from Nancy's Notions, calle Kwick something, I forget, I have to look at my email, anyway it's to save your fingers from getting sore from closing the safety pins. I'm gonna try the marble first. :thumbup:

Send it to Fons and Porter or Threads to make some money and/or get gifts before somebody else from some other board or forum does! It's your tip, and a great one, Klue

i sent it to fons years ago and they must have used it because i got a free subscription.

what is threads?

Threads is a really neat magazine for those who are into making clothes an finding tuning your skills. Just type in the search engine: Threads magzine and it will find you the site.

thank you.

i'm making another quilt sandwich today so i thought i post pics of how i tape everything down.

i use ultimate quilters pounce on my top so thats the white powder that you see. i do tape down trying to avoid the powder because the tape will remove some of the powder making it harder to see the lines.

this is a quilt for a friends mother. its her birthday this month and she's giving it to her as a birthday present.

her mother has been breast cancer free for 10 years now so she wanted a breast cancer theme hence all the pink ribbons in a swirl design.

then her favorite color is purple so i put it on a purple background fabric.

i'm going to add in prairie points with this pink and purple swirl fabric that i have when its time to bind the quilt.

so i hope you enjoy the photo's - feel free to ask any questions.

the pics will be across 2 posts in this thread.