Great description on your method. I can see it working. Thanks.

Anyone remember from the "old days", the simple quilting frames? Using "one by" boards, length to be determined by the quilt size. 4 boards in a square, at the intersections use wood clamps to hold in place. The backing can be tacked to the boards tightly. Then layer the backing and top. I have tied a quilt in this manner. I have my husband's grandma's frame like this. Works very well. ( I hope I have explained this that is understandable.)

I attached an old fashioned yard stick to an old cutting mat and slide that around underneath my "sandwich" while pinning so I don't scratch the wood floor.

I use my cutting table (40" x 72") and 2"-wide clamps (office supply store) to secure the 3 layers around the edges of the table and then I pin ... a section at a time. However, the pinning is annoying, as is the pin removal as I'm quilting. A couple nights ago, in my quest for any & all good info. to improve my FMQ, I watched a slew of videos. One woman has a large felt board wall??? into which she can stick straight pins. She covers it from floor to ceiling with newspaper, then pins her backing to that, spray bastes it with 505 adhesive spray, then the smooths on the batting, ditto spray baste, then the top. She smooths the whole thing and the 505 keeps it adhered for a long time, allowing her to FMQ without having to remove any safety pins. In the video, it worked slick as a whistle, but I don't have the wall space nor the felt board that I can stick pins into. She also covers the floor area (with an old sheet) in front of the wall to catch any stray spray adhesive. I'm trying to come up with a similar pin-free basting plan that will work for me to include NOT breathing in the spray adhesive.

My way is probably a little strange, but it works for me. I have neck, shoulder and lower back issues so it's hard for me to even think about getting down on the floor. Here is how I pin baste my layers for quilting: My bed is kind of high off the floor because we have and extra layer of memory foam on it. So that is where I do my quilts. I use my extra large cutting board on top of the bed. I use clothes hangers with the skirt clips and secure the top of my backing to one long side and one edge of the cutting board, keeping that corner square, and the cutting board close to the edge of the bed. I then clip another 2 hangers to the bottom of the backing where it hangs over the side of the bed so that little bit of weight keeps it pulled tight. As I add each layer, I clip it into the hangers at the top, but not at the bottom. When the section over the cutting board is layered and smoothe, I safety pin baste it well.

Now remove the 2 hangers clipped to the bottom, and tuck just a bit of the unpinned layers under the bottom edge of the cutting board and clip them in place with the 2 hangers. I now turn the cutting board one roll so the pinned section is under it, still clipped to it, and now the unpinned section is on top of the back of the cutting board. Because of my physical problems, I do have to get my DH to help with this part.

Remove the 2 hangers again, and the other hangers holding your quilt to the top of the cutting board. Clip the hangers to the edge of the pinned section where it is folded over the top edge of the cutting board to hold it straight, then pull the layers tight. Now clip them together to the bottom of the cutting board with the rest of the hanger clips. Safety pin baste, then remove the hangers and you are ready to sew.

This might sound complicated but it really isn't. It's just complicated to explain. LOL The cutting board makes it easy to put the safety pins in from one side. The clotheshanger clips hold the quilt layers tight and it all works great for me.
Huggs and smilessss.......

You know, I do remember those.. my grandma's had holes drilled every inch and she had long nails that she put thru the holes after they were lined up where she wanted them. This adjusted the frame to the size of quilt she was working on. The holes were numbered on each end of all 4 boards to make lining them up easier. The nail didn't fit tight, so she could easily pull them out and move them. This is also how they rolled the quilt up as the tying progressed to get to the rest of the quilt.

I use to use the class room at my LQS. That way I could also match and buy any thread I needed. They had the large banquet tables with PVC to lift the table so very little bending over. It was fun spending the day in a quilt store too !!!

it does work good when you spray i never get puckers on the back you use such little spray I dont spray to the ends. I don't think I will ever pin again I sprayed a king quilt & didn't have problems..

Harriet Hargraves illustrates a no fail method for pin basting. I have been doing it this way for 20 years with very good results.

I saw a really easy way to layer and pin baste any size quilt on a 3 x 5 foot table in the book "Heirloom Machine Quilting" by Harriet Hargrave. She first marks the center of each side of the table by taping a toothpick to the center top edge of each side. Then she folds each layer one at a time in halves to find those centers and lines them up with the toothpick. You can feel it under all the layers. Next she clamps the layers along the edges with binder clips or clamps. Large quilts will hang over the edges but that's okay. The center of the quilt is pin basted first then the whole quilt is unclamped and moved to one side or the other, reclamped on one edge, and pinned. Then move the other side over, clamp and pin.

This is by far the least back breaking method I've ever seen to baste large quilts.