Toni C

Floating IMHO is the only way to go LOL. Cindi thanks fr the pic of the centering tape. What a great tool

eparys

I too am a floater. It is much quicker and like PaperPrincess, I like access to the back of the quilt. For minor adjustments I will pin the sides to the backing and baste the sides before attaching the side clamps.

That being said if the quilt is not square or is some how wonky I will use the traditional pinning method which allows a bit of finesse!!

Cindy - I am intrigued with what magnets you use from Harbor Freight - my DH often goes there when we are down near the store - it is amazing what can be repurposed fro sewing from there.

cindi

Picked it up at my LQS. You can also get it online at JoAnn's and Amazon.

mamagrande

I also have 2 18 inch magnetic bars, they are very strong and holds the top taut, thank you for all your input. Sometimes when someone who has been quilting longer than you frowns on your method you can get a little unsure of your method. I see that many of you float.. I guess that we can quilt to your own ..drumbeat..

sewdamncute

I technically float my tops, but square up, baste the sides and across the belly bar of the whole quilt. That way I can find any problem areas and ease them in. It takes more time "up front" , but advancing and quilting is a breeze!

Michellesews

I don't float my backing but I do float the batting and top. I find it easier to keep square this way.

AliKat

I use those 18" magnetic holders [bars] from Harbor Freight that are meant to hold tools on the wallActually I use a QuilTal for the bottom backing and tops of my larger quilts.

jitkaau

I have a mid arm bed and on my particular model, every one is floated - although I had not realised this before. I have no problem with it.

DebbieJJ

This is my method also. I'm seriously considering trying the Red Snapper system though, as even just the above hurts my back & shoulders, so anything larger than a baby quilt has to be pinned a few hours before I start quilting on it. Ahhhh, the joys of growing older! LOL Thankful to be alive and well otherwise, though!

Barb in Louisiana

I pinned down my first couple of quilts that I did and then tried floating the top & batting. I have a lot better success keeping everything straight and not getting tucks anywhere in a quilt when I float the top. I have a very good eye for knowing if the quilt is still square or not and they all seem to try to move a little bit, or maybe it's because I start from the right side as I am standing at the back and move towards the left with the sewing. I don't do a lot of free motion quilting yet. I'm still doing Panto's.

I will say that as I move down the quilt, every time I roll to the next area, I do pin the sides of the area that I am working on to keep it as still as possible. I, also, have clamps that I use to keep the sewing area taut. I remove those pins when I am through quilting in the area, roll the quilt, and then re-pin. It works well for me and I am a very new long arm quilter.

Edited to add: I quilt on a very seasoned 1998 Nolting long arm with a 24" throat. If I had one of the longarms that had the locks so you could sew a straight line down the sides, I would not pin the sides, I would baste them. But my Nolting is dependent on me to go straight and, good luck with that. lol

Another thing. I use those big corsage pins that you can get in almost any silk flower area in stores to pin my quilts. I did have to smooth them down because they had a lot of "grabbies" on them. I used a combination of steel wool and sandpaper. These pins are study enough to hold anything I want to quilt. They do not roll well if I leave them in the sides so I cannot roll the quilt unless I remove them. No problem, I only put 3 or 4 on each side for each sewing area. It takes about 10 seconds to remove both sides.

Merry Christmas to all. Foods in the oven and I am catching up on my favorite website.