What method do you use to sandwich your quilt?
 

I layer the fabric and batting on a table and secure with large binder clips. I spray baste and sometimes use safty pins when needed. A couple of friends use their floor (taped and pinned), one uses her wall (she has corkboard on her wall for that purpose). Just wondering what works for you.

I do the table thing as well. If it is a lap or smaller quilt I use spray basting, pins on the larger pieces. I used to do the floor but my knees just can't take that anymore!

I use a wall, but mainly because I don't have any floor space or a table large enough to accomodate anything larger than a crib-size quilt! Anything crib-size or smaller I use a table. I tape each layer down around the edges with blue painter's tape to keep it flat and smooth, then pin with straight pins and homemade "Pinmoors". (I don't like safety pins for basting, I bought two different kinds of "quilting" safety pins and they were so thick and dull it was tough to get them through the fabric, so I gave up!)

If I had more space I'd rather use the floor or a table for everything. The wall causes a the top part to be tighter and the bottom to be kind of baggy and I have to be careful when pinning to smooth it out - I end up un-pinning and re-pinning a lot because I'll get ripples. Sigh!

I used to use Schamber's method before I acquired a longarm machine.

DD pins it for me :thumbup: I can't get down on the floor anymore.

I do mine on my cutting table. I pin baste a section at a time. There is no way I could get down on the floor and do it. It would take a crane and probably a military unit to get me back up! Knees and hips aren't what they used to be!

I pin section by section. I end up using the table unless my DD is here to help me use the floor. It isn't perfect, but as I hand quilt and move my frame from area to area, I make sure that it is even and the correct tautness. So far I have not had any problems working this way (and it's been years) I know the "quilt police" would lock me up for this!! LOL When I have a larger quilt and I am not sure how well it is evenly placed, I will begin in a corner that I know is where it should be and work my way out

I use the kitchen island or the dining table for smaller quilts. I've done twin-size on my ironing table (24"x66") and just kept smoothing and sliding it along by section (I used mats on top of the ironing pad). It worked pretty well. But I tried it for another quilt and I ended up unpinning it all and taping it to the floor. I like using the floor best!

I have to do mine on a table as my RA wont let me get down on the floor any longer. I spray baste and sometimes pin.

Basting is one job I do not like, so I let a long armer baste my big quits for me. Over and done with. The ones I do baste myself I use Pinmoors. http://www.pinmoor.com/ They are the best things since the rotary cutter. Don't bother with the foam earplugs, earring backs, pencil eracers, door strips, and everything else for substitutions. I tried them all. None of them work like the real Pinmores. They are a one time purchase and will last a lifetime if you can keep them out of your quilting friends hands. LOL

I love basting with boards I do use safety pins www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA

I move the dining room table and put a buffet table up against it and use that. I usually pin baste.

I can get down. Getting up is the problem!

What are Pinmores?

You're right. Getting down is hard; getting up is definitely worse :D

I have a ping pong table in the garage, I use that when I pin a quilt, as I cannot get on the floor anymore either.

My mom always used the big frames and would turn the long sides as the quilt progressed. When I was a child, playing underneath the quilt top was great fun. Especially when other kids would be there to help with the play while their mothers helped with the quilt. We seem to be more solitary with quilting now. Perhaps thats why we have this board. Thanks for all of your responses, it's fun to see the process we each go through.

The link is in my reply above.

Go to Hancock fabrics and ask them for some of their empty long rolls. They will gladly give you as many as you like. Now you can roll most while you pin, baste, or whatever you do in a smaller space.

I tape and spray baste on the floor. It isn't as easy as it used to be but it works the best for me.

I live in a motorhome, so I ask to use the community center & put their long tables together to give the quilt full support. Then I tape things down to the table & pin away. I have never used the sprays because of my need to keep things neat & clean so I can use it again. So far, I've been very fortunate & they don't mind helping me get the tables put together.

I recently saw the Sharon Schambers method using the boards and I have my first can of 505 sitting there waiting to be used. Up until now, it's been painter's tape on large tables and curved safety pins.

I also pin baste using my cutting table. My DH made my cutting table with a drop down piece. When I want to sandwich a quilt, I pull up that piece and I have a larger surface to work on at the right height. Beats kneeling on the floor! I also use Wendy Butler Berns method of basting which is found in Craftsy's online Machine Quilting course.

pinkcastle, is WBB's method the one using the bamboo skewers on the table? I'm enrolled in that Craftsy course also, and I've been hankering to try that method... sounds like it would be perfect to use in my small space! I've tried Schamber's method with the boards too.

Yes, that's the one. I really like it because if I have a pieced back I can line it up nicely with the top. I haven't tried Schamber's method.

Great... I'm going to give WBB's method a try with my next project!

I guess I'm lucky. I have a tiny house, so I take mine over to my sister. She has our youngest sister's old fashioned floor frame. We set it up and baste it. It takes us about an hour and a half to baste a queen size quilt. Then I take it home and quilt it in my homemade hoop. I kept breaking the hoops, so I took the insides of the broken hoops, placed one inside the other and taped them together to make it thicker. Then I taped the outside pieces together the same way. No more broken hoops. I used the only tape I had at the time, which was black electrical tape. I have been using this "homemade hoop for around 10 years with no problems. I think i wound up using pieces from 3 different hoops. It looks a little wierd, but it works great.

I like to baste rather than pin. I learned to use the herringbone basting stitch for tailoring a jacket once, so when I saw Sharon Schamber's method I use that stitch, I knew it would hold. I've used it on four quilts. Her board method is great for smaller quilts, but I don't have enough space to set up several tables for a queen size quilt.

I have Harriet Hargrave's book on machine quilting. She likes to the quilt to drape over the edge of a table on all sides so gravity helps with keeping the layers smooth. I use her method of marking the center points on the table with taped toothpicks. Since I usually have blocks on the back of the quilt it helps line them up, then since the quilt isn't fastened to the table, I can lift and check alignment as I go. To minimize back pain, I use bed lifters on the table to raise it up to 36". At that height I can drape a queen size on one folding table.

Tracy aka Missus Fear, When you use the rolls do you use 3? One for top batting and back or put all three on one roll?
Becky

I spray baste mine..works great..

My cutting table is my old drop-leaf dining room table. I open it up to its full size and layer the quilt a quarter at a time, letting the rest drape over the sides of the table. If I will be hand quilting, I hand baste with old Coats & Clark thread, using a herringbone basting stitch. I quilt in a large hoop and pins get in the way.
If I will be machine quilting, I use curved quilter's basting pins. I like the small ones better than the larger ones, they leave smaller holes.
I sit on my rolling office chair as I baste, and roll around the table as I go so I don't have to reach all the way across the table.
I've been basting this way for many years and have never had problems with puckers or tucks on the back of my quilts.

I resemble that post, especially the part about a crane to lift me, LOL!

DH made a 4 x 8 plywood top for our dining room table for when we have the family over. I also use the top when I need to layer a large quilt. Use painters tape to tape down the backing on 3 sides and big clips for overhang, pin and then move the quilt and retape backing down to finish.

I only do block by block now, but in the pst I used my large kitchen island (4x6) :)

I use my dining room table - it is plenty long enough but not wide enough. But I make it work for me as I can't get down on the floor anymore either. I know it isn't perfect, but it is the best I can do with what I have.

I use my dining room table, tape the backing, roll and smooth the batting and the top and pin everything. if the quilt is bigger than the table, I do half first and then the other half, it works fine for me!

I have gone to spray basting I lay the backing and batting out on my queen size bed then fold back 1/2 and spray baste the back to the batting (can not do floors any more!) once backing is attached to the batting I place the top on and spray baste it 1/2 at a time or for larger quilts 1/4 at a time once all is spray basted make sure to smooth all firmly together works great - 505 spray gets the best usage about 3 large quilts June tailor works ok but 1 large quilt and a baby quilt from it.

I use the top of my queen size bed, or floor if it's real big, and I spray baste, and use some pins.

I use my queen size bed and spray baste,using a few safety pins to be sure I don't pull it out of shape. I have to hand quilt or use my DSM. I cover the bed and floor around it with old sheets to protect from over-spray. I could not possibly get down on the floor and I am too short to use the wall. I do like to have it basted by my long arm person for hand quilting,but she has been too busy to even quilt my quilts this yeart,LOL.

I use two ironing boards with sheets of plywood covered with checkered picnic table cloths on them. (The checks help me keep it straight. ) I clip the layers together and then use the bent safety pins to secure the top. I then move the quilt as each area is basted. It works well for me as I can adjust the ironing boards to my height and not have to stoop over, either. My back and knees will no longer tolerate the torture of working on the floor.

Put it on my longarm! Hate hand quilting!!!