TnBecky

I have made the flannel top & now I need to put the flannel on the back. I have worked on putting this together for three nights. I tried laying it out on the carpet & pinning. What a mess with all the puckers. Then I pulled out a 3 x6 craft table to pin a section at a time. Still puckers everywhere. I have given the flannel a slight tugg each time & it still does it. How do you get a smooth back on a quilt using flannel???
I have tried to thread baste, clip it to the table & pinned over & over. My hands hurt from pinning & unpinning & pinning again. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

PenniF

Elmers school glue....one section at a time.....dry each section with a dry (no steam) iron as you go. Hopefully this will work....as it works with fabric.

tessagin

I usually fold everything in fourths to help pin point the middle. Before all this though I press the top and backing but try not to drag and iron. Just press. Then fold in half and again. In the center I pin, then smooth without stretching work my way out and pin as I go. I do one quarter section at a time like the upper right hand section, then lower left hand section. Then the other sections. There is a YouTube video on pin basting and I believe one by Katie Amelie on pin basting a large quilt on a small table. Actually, there are a lot of videos on pin basting.

dunster

Did you starch the back into submission?

Tartan

​Flannel does like to act up sometimes. The last flannel back I used was with Hobbs 80/20 fusible batt and I did get a 105X105 machine quilted without any wrinkles but I had to re-iron the back a couple of times as I quilted. I have not used the Elmer's washable glue on a big quilt so I don't know how that works. I think either the glue or 505 basting spray would probably be your best bet.

TnBecky

Trust me that was a big thought.

TnBecky

I can not stand the smell of using the spray in the house & it's too cold to go outside. I just didn't know how the elmer's glue would work on a thicker fabric like flannel.

Prism99

I agree with starching the flannel backing before layering. My method is to mix a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid laundry starch and water, "paint" this onto the yardage using a large wall painting brush, wait a couple of minutes to make sure all the fibers are saturated with starch, toss in dryer, then iron with steam. This stiffens the flannel quite a lot, which means it will not move around on you or pucker while you are basting and/or machine quilting. It's a good idea to starch the top before layering as well. Layers of spray starch help, although it will never get as stiff as the Sta-Flo solution.

I think the Elmer's glue would work fine with flannel. The glue is actually just at thicker form of starch.