bkay

I lost my space for spreading out a quilt to sandwich easily. There, I taped the backing down and worked from there. It worked very well. Now I'm stuck with sandwiching on my kitchen island. Taping doesn't work there, as I have to move the backing, too. I tried the pool noodles and gave that up quickly.

If you use clips to sandwich your quilt, what kind do you use? After shoulder surgery, my hands are not as strong as they used to be, so those clips from home depot are too hard to open.

I looked on Amazon and found a plethora of clips, but they don't say how wide they will open. If you use slips to sandwich your quilt, what kind of clips (brand or style) work for you? The countertop is 1 1/2 inches thick.

bkay

Three Dog Night

I use beach towel clips they open wide and the spring is just tight enough to hold fabric in place and yet allow you to open without stress. Got them at Amazon; JABINCO Beach Towel Clips Chair Clips Towel Holder,Plastic Clothes Pegs Hanging Clip Clamps. I use them on my 4ft folding table with no problem.

lindaschipper

I use quilters safety pins...about a hands space apart.

Iceblossom

Good for you to check! When I bought my clips for using a ping pong table, I found I couldn't open a lot of them either.

But I saved a tag from one of the packages (they were in 2-packs). They are by Olympia Tools and the 1" size worked great for the ping pong table and technically would work for the kitchen counters but you do have to open them ALL the way and that gets a bit hard and doesn't give you a lot of leeway for anything more than the back.

Amazon is out of stock on the 2" size. I found mine in Big Lots (we were in the neighborhood and checked).
https://www.amazon.com/Olympia-Tools.../dp/B002PFUJI6

Lady Diana

Call your church to see if you can come in during off time to use a few banquet tables to pin or baste your quilt. Our church is so nice in allowing some of us to come in when administration is working during the week.....be wishes

sewingpup

could call a local long arm quilter and see if they baste quilts. There will be charge of course but it may be worth it.

QuiltE

Works great .....I've found that a large meander works better than any sort of a grid pattern. Get the LA'r to do long stitches, so it's easy for you to take them out. Mostly, I leave them in as I FMQ, but if I am concerned about them being in the way, I just snip out a stitch or two when I get there.

I rationalize the cost of paying the longarmer as quite OK, as it saves me a trip to the chiropractor!!

charlottequilts

I use the blue Irwin clamps from HD. They pop open easily and don’t seem to need much pressure to close. I would say they clamp about as tightly as you would want for fabric. I know some people use binder clips, but I’m not looking to smash the fabric, myself, plus binder clips are very hard to open and hold like there’s no tomorrow.

Irwin clamps come in different sizes. All you need is to find one that fits your island top.

hugs, charlotte

Mkotch

I use my guest bed for sandwiching quilts for which I use quilters' safety pins. It means bending down a bit so I take breaks. If the quilt is big, I quilt it in sections and then sew the sections together. The other thing I do is use a big table at a public hall. The folks there are happy to have me come for an hour or so at no charge when no one is using it. Our public library also has times when tables in its meeting room aren't being used and will happily let me use those.

NJ Quilter

I pin on my cutting table needing to shift things around as well depending on quilt size. I use the large binder clips from the office supply store. Start in the center , pin what I can then shift around left, right, up, down as needed and keep pinning. No bending and I don't find the clips difficult to open.