I have just finished a simple bargello quilt and I want to reuse some old blankets I have around my house. I was thinking of doing the pillow case method and instead of tieing it, could I quilt it AFTER ive sewn the sides?

If so, what is the best method of stabilizing it? Or should I just tie it. Either way would be fine with me...but I was just wondering

Thanks a bunch.

I would think so, but you wouldn't want to quilt too much. A lot of stitching could make it pull in wonky. Maybe just SID along the blocks?

I was thinking SID also, Carol. I am going to do a lot of pinning while I sew the edges and then turn and then maybe pin it again to SID. What do you think? I don't want to do any fancy stitching, mainly cause I dont know how hahaha.

Remember that quilting shrinks the quilt, so less would be better.

That's me!! Sometimes ignorance is bliss !??? hahahaha

I'm not sure about the pinning to quilt, mainly because I haven't done it. The only time I pinned was to hold it in place while I basted. When I was doing that, I thought you "had" to baste. Not I'm not sure that is true. So, I need to let the others advise you on that. Then you can tell me how to do it!LOL I would think that it would be fine though.

I would only use the pillowcase method on a small quilt like a baby quilt. You are absolutely able to do it, I am just afraid of having a pucker somewhere on the back. That is just me though and I am sure there are many people who do it on large quilts.

Back in the day ( the 70's) all of the quilts I did were the pillow case type method . This was of course before all of the great gadjets and gizmos we have now. The biggest chanlenge was to get it to be flat and true. The layers all have to be exact to have to come out flat in the end. There was always ...always some puckering because all of the layers did not play well the turning process. The larger the quilt the worse it got. I would not recommend this for full size quilts or larger( if you are a beginner or have not done this method before) . There are so many other methods that will give better final results. If you do want to do the "pillow case" type method . I would recomend that you do a Tack stitch type method. This is similiar to tieing. You take several "in place" stiches at places that you may have tied. Take a large zig zag , put the stitch length to zero and take several back and forth stitches. This will secure the quilt like tieing. You can do some simple quilting once this is done , it will give you a good idea of how much you can quilt comfortably in each area , keeping in mind the chance of puckering. Do refer to the batting packaging for how far apart the tacking and/or quilting can be placed. Each batting has differnent recomendations for quilting distance.
I still do the tack method , and place them pretty close together ( 3 to 4 inch ) for some kids quilts and especially if the batting is thicker.

Thank you ladies for all the suggestions! The old blanket that I am using on the back of my bargello, is really, really thick. I am not using batting because it is so thick. I tried last night to quilt it after I turned it...it was a no go. I didnt get even half way in on row before I started having problems, because the blanket for the back is so thick. So I ripped the stitching out and have decided to just tie it.

What I did...I placed the top quilt face down, on top of the blanket faced up. Pinned ever 3" or so and then stitched around the edges, then flipped/turned the blanket right side out. Now I have repinned ever 3" again. It is actually very flat, no puckering. I now need to get some embroidery floss to tie it. I tell ya tho, it is HEAVY hahahaha The blanket that I used for the back is one I had when I was a kid and it was just in the closet all these years. And I thought, heck, I can reuse it and just put a new face on it. My husband really likes it. I have found some other blankets in the closet that I am going to ues for future backings ;)

Once I get it tied, I will surely post a picture and show all of you :)