I agree 100% with Oregongirl about the basting. Personally, I use both spray and hand basting, and always work from the center out, both with the basting and the quilting. With the water soluble thread (not recommended for swimwear), you can stabilize and then remove most of the basting, which can get in the way sometimes. WS thread is not a necessity; it just sometimes frees one up a bit. There are lots of ways to baste; my best advice is to leave the thread 'sans knot.' If there is a knot, it will not remove as easily, especially when it gets caught in the foot (major bunching).

ps: using the WS thread is an accompaniment to basting, not a replacement for it.

Neither me nor my wife has ever heard of water soluble thread. Where do you get it?

Joe

Joe, that is one lovely quilt! I'm sure they will love them both, no matter how they are quilted. Still, it would be nice to not have such complications, huh?

Joe, I think I found it on Amazon.

Or:
http://daystyledesigns.com/washawaythread.htm
http://www.redrockthreads.com/misc-t...ble-thread.asp

i haven't used water soluble thread or done spray basting, although i have a can of the spray to try sometime. those are intriguing ideas! i'll have to try. if you use thread you can literally do 4" stitches, so it doesn't need to take too long.

if you go the safety pin route, you can use regular safety pins - about 1.5" long, or buy ones with a curve to one side specifically made for quilt basting. there's a quick pinning technique that's cool where you poke the pin down, then as it comes up use the bowl of a spoon to catch the open pin end and close the safety pin. it's very easy and quick to do.

this morning i was also thinking about your comment about using polyester batting. depending on what you're making, and i'm thinking you said something earlier about making quilts for your aunts, inexpensive polyester batting on the roll from places like JoAnn's can really cause problems. are you familiar with bearding? if the batting isn't "bonded" meaning that it is kinda "felted" to itself creating one unit, you can get bearding. that's what it's called when bits of batting either get pulled through the top/bottom by your needle or work their way out through using the quilt. it's awful. my sis-in-law, cousin and i made a beautiful red & white irish chain quilt for my mom probably 15 years ago. tons of work went into it with the piecing and handquilting. but my sis-in-law used inexpensive polyester batting and OHMYGOSH - that poor quilt had a layer of fuzz over it most of the time from it bearding through the fabric. i had the quilt for a while and even though we barely used it, i was forever trimming off little fibers that poked through.

if you're making something utilitarian like a sewing machine cover that you don't care so much about, then it doesn't matter. but if you're making something that you care about, it's well worth it to invest in quality batting from a quilt store. i do use Hobbs, which is a polyester because it's so easy to hand-quilt. but cottons and wools are great too. i *think* that cottons and wools are less likely to beard. you can buy quality quilt batts at places like JoAn's too, but look for a brand name like Hobbs or Heirloom.

also, if your fabrics are mostly dark you can buy dark batting so if any fibers do work through they don't show as much.

Warm & Natural is my favorite batting, although I tested the bamboo batting by pellon and found it worked well, too.