stephaniequeen

I just saw a tutorial on basting. Is basting a substitute for pinning with safety pins? Why baste when you can use spray adhesive? Or does spraying make the quilt stiff...but wouldn't washing it after it's quilted make it soft again? Again...what is the purpose of basting?? :?:

Thusnelda

Pinning with safety pins is just one way of basting, it's the one I usually prefer. With smaller objects I sometimes sew the three layers together with big basting stitches. I've never used spray adhesive for basting and I never will. I'm not very fond of chemicals (you always breathe in some of it and even if you don't the production of it and the waste produced with the empty cans is bad for the environment) plus I wouldn't want the surrounding area to be all sticky.

virtualbernie

It's mostly a matter of choice. I baste if I'm going to hand quilt (which is what I do mostly), pin if machine quilting (threads get caught in the the pins if hand quilting), spray basting for both if you like spray basting. Yes it does wash out and become soft again. :lol:

AFQSinc

I think that basting might come in handy if you're quilting a large quilt. I tried to quilt a queen sized quilt on my Bernina and it was impossible. I had so many safety pins in it that it weighed a ton. I ended up sending it out to be quilted. If I had just sent it to a longarmer for basting it would have been so much lighter and I probably could have quilted it at home.

As an aside, I used 505 spray basting for the first time a few weeks ago. It was amazing. No smell and it held the layers together really well. I did put a few pins in the border because I gave that area less spray (accidently). It was a little bit bigger than crib size. When I did my mug rugs I used it again and I didn't have to put one pin in. There was no stickiness on my machine or needle. I used old towels to protect my table and there were no problems. It washed out perfectly. On the smaller quilts I will definitely use it again. It was great to move that quilt around without worrying about all the pins.

vintagemotif

I don't like the chemicals from spray basting and I find basting easier on the hands than pin basting.

MelodyWB

I spray baste everything..I learned to use a new water base from Elmer's and it's cheaper and light weight..we have all fallen in love with it and it's non-toxic. We.. meaning my quilt group!!

alikat110

Haven't used it yet. Still thread basting b/c that is how I was taught. Open to try tho!

katier825

Please share your method with us!

justlooking

Depends on the project. I have used all methods above. A matter of personal preference.

Holice

basting is any way you choose to hold the layers together to quilt.