Machine basting question
 

With the price of spray basing my quilts I'm thinking of trying something else.To those of you that machine baste or maybe hand baste, do you pin everything together, make a giant X , and then maybe run a line horizontal and vertical thru the middle of the X? Guessing the edges of the quilt have to be basted also. Is it difficult to remove the basting stitches once you have sewn over them with your quilting design?

There are different answers depending on what type of machine you are using to quilt your design. Could you specify please. Are you using your DSM, a sit down like a Sweet Sixteen, or a longarm?

I buy my spray baste on sale at JoAnns when they have a 50% off coupon. I use Spray-n-Bond which is not found in the quilting area but near the buttons etc. It is for machine basting and embroidery and clearly marked. I have also ordered the same spray on Amazon and it is about half of the regular price at JA. I have also ordered from JA online. I can usually get 3 quilts spray based per can.

Why don't you try Elmer's washable school glue? I think you would lay out your quilt like spray basting. I just put a thin drizzle of the glue in a kind of grid about 4 inches apart onto the batting. Then flip over and do other side. I let dry overnight but it can be ironed to dry faster. Does. Not gum up needle when dry and always washes out. Very inexpensive and no fumes. Some people dilute it and paint it on the entire surface. I have never found that necessary - I'm 30 plus quilts in and have never had a wrinkle.

washable school glue is a good alternative to spray basting or pin basting.
just make sure you don't lay down big blobs of the glue.
a friend of mine made that mistake and broke a machine needle when it hit the hardened blob.

Well, I am ruling out you are quilting by long arm as you are talking about basting the quilt. However, one solution is to ask a long armer in your area if they will baste your quilt for you. Then they would load everything on the frame and baste it. This would be my choice if I did not have my own long arm as I can't bend over or be on my knees to baste a big quilt. I used to just pin baste my quilts with those curved basting pins. It worked. I also learned a thread basting method from Sharon Schamber that was real good at holding things in place. She used to have videos on it. Good Luck in finding a method that works for you. I never liked using the sprays or glues. I don't like spraying stuff in the air I breathe.

I use two six foot folding tables, the kind that fold in the middle for easy storage, I lay the batting down, then smooth the quilt top on top. I fold back half the quilt top and roll Elmer's school glue on the batting. I smooth the quilt top back over the batting. Repeat with the other half of the top. I then press the quilt top to dry the glue. I flip it over and repeat with the backing.
I use this: Big Horn 19044 Glue Roller Bottle, 8 ounce. If you let the glue dry naturally as the moisture of the glue dries, the quilt will look wrinkly. Press it with steam and it will be smooth and stay smooth. I have glue basted on dining room tables before, no harm to the table. I let the glue dry then steamed pressed it on ironing board. I have tried every way of basting my quilts, quilting pins, thread, the tab machine, sprays, LA basted, fusible batting, and Pinmoors. Glue is my choice.

I have machine basted my last two quilts. I use a long arm, but the idea should work for any type of machine quilting.

I baste both sides and top and bottom of my quilting area (in my case, this is determined by my throat space). I baste the entire quilt before doing any quilting. Once the quilt is fully basted, I then start my quilting at the top and I remove any basting line that might be in the way BEFORE I quilt that particular row. With an "edge to edge" long arm pattern, that may or may not allow me to do two rows before I remove another horizontal basting stitch.

We also have a sit-down long arm. I haven't used it this way, but I would approach it in a similar fashion. You probably would know how you will approach the quilting design (block-by-block, row-by-row, center-out, etc)..If you machine baste your quilt to match how you will approach it, then you should be able to determine when it is safe to remove a "basting boundary". For example: if I were using a "center-out" approach, then I might baste the outer edge of the quilt, then baste concentric circles from the center.

Don't know if any of that makes sense, but my basting on MY long arm leaves 10" x width-of quilt sections of the quilt that have no adhesive to hold the layers together. I DO have the tension from the rollers, but I have not had any problems with pleats or wrinkles with this method.

? about batting type used if glue basting and ironing
 

Thank you for the great information on how you glue bast. I am ready to try it on my next quilt. When you press the quilt top to dry the glue, does it matter what batting you are using. I have Hobbs Poly Down. Many thanks!

my experience is it works better on cotton batting but that is just my experience