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Posted by Morag in Scotland on August 20, 2007, 11:21 am
Please help me!! my main quilting problem is keeping the stupid thing flat
while I baste it. I seem to be completely unable to get the backing, batting
and top all nice and smooth and wrinkle free. I have just spent more of the
afternoon basting and re-basting a lap quilt and I'm still not happy that
it's 100%.
So tips. Experienced quilters please walk me through step by step *exactly*
what you do and how you keep evetything smooth. I've seen people using
frames, bit mystified by them. How do they work, where do you get them and
are they expensive?
morag
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Posted by Louise on August 20, 2007, 11:36 am
On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:21:07 +0100, "Morag in Scotland"
show/hide quoted text
>Please help me!! my main quilting problem is keeping the stupid thing flat
>while I baste it. I seem to be completely unable to get the backing, batting
>and top all nice and smooth and wrinkle free. I have just spent more of the
>afternoon basting and re-basting a lap quilt and I'm still not happy that
>it's 100%.
>So tips. Experienced quilters please walk me through step by step *exactly*
>what you do and how you keep evetything smooth. I've seen people using
>frames, bit mystified by them. How do they work, where do you get them and
>are they expensive?
I'm just a beginner myself, and maybe my flatness standards are not as
high as yours. But here is what I do.
I iron the back and the top. More than once. I go to work where they
have big conference tables and masking-tape the back to the table. I
usually take several tries at it before it's all lying flat. I smooth
the batting out on the back. Then I put the top on, smooth it out
from the centre, and use safety pins. I start pinning at the middle,
and work outwards about a fist-width apart.
I don't close any of the pins until I've undone the masking tape,
flipped the thing over, and checked out the back. If there are
wrinkles or big puckers, I do part of it over.
What basting method are you using?
Louise, in Kingston Ontario
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Posted by Morag in Scotland on August 20, 2007, 1:21 pm
show/hide quoted text
> What basting method are you using?
I think where I've been going wrong is not either taping the backing to the
floor or clamping it to table. It tends to slip and slide around which I
think is causing most of my problems. I am basting using large tacking
stitches radiating out from the centre of the quilt, I had never thought
about using pins. My first thought abuot safety pins is getting ones large
enough to go through the three layers.
morag
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Posted by Anne Rogers on August 20, 2007, 3:28 pm
show/hide quoted text
> I think where I've been going wrong is not either taping the backing to
> the floor or clamping it to table. It tends to slip and slide around
> which I think is causing most of my problems. I am basting using large
> tacking stitches radiating out from the centre of the quilt, I had never
> thought about using pins. My first thought abuot safety pins is getting
> ones large enough to go through the three layers.
hand quilters seem to prefer thread basting so the quilt can be put
easily into a hoop, personally I wouldn't want to hand baste a quilt for
machine quilting, if there is a thread lurking around, the needle always
seems to end up going through it which makes for tricky removal.
Safety bins really need to be sharp rather than big, I have some curved
ones about an inch long which are fine, when I needed some more, I
bought small, straight ones, because you got more in a pack, they are
sharp and seem to go through and close with no problems.
I second the recommendation of taping the backing and batting to the
floor or table.
Cheers
Anne
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Posted by Sandy Ellison on August 20, 2007, 8:53 pm
Howdy!
Most of the hand quilters I know use safety pins for basting.
The 1" pins are just fine, esp. w/ a Kwik Klip tool:
http://www.quiltbus.com/images/6679.jpg
The bigger pins are perfect for the rolled border (backing folded over
the front to cover the edges of the batting).
More basting helps have a flatter, smoother quilt sandwich.
Starting w/ a pin in the middle of the sandwich before I lay it out, I
line up the backing to the quilt top; that middle pin gives me a good
starting point.
When I pin on the table the weight of the sandwich hanging over the table
helps keep everything in place (no taping needed).
Gently & firmly smoothing the sandwich while working towards the outside
edges makes the wrinkles disappear; use a yardstick as a "trowel". ;-)
Try different techniques to see which works best for you. Practice.
Invest some time in this process. It will get easier for you.
Good luck!
R/Sandy -- wondering what happened to Batting In A Can ...
On 8/20/07 2:28 PM, in article V8-dnXHIprUcdlTbnZ2dnUVZ_uSgnZ2d@comcast.com,
show/hide quoted text
>
>> I think where I've been going wrong is not either taping the backing to
>> the floor or clamping it to table. It tends to slip and slide around
>> which I think is causing most of my problems. I am basting using large
>> tacking stitches radiating out from the centre of the quilt, I had never
>> thought about using pins. My first thought abuot safety pins is getting
>> ones large enough to go through the three layers.
>
> hand quilters seem to prefer thread basting so the quilt can be put
> easily into a hoop, personally I wouldn't want to hand baste a quilt for
> machine quilting, if there is a thread lurking around, the needle always
> seems to end up going through it which makes for tricky removal.
>
> Safety bins really need to be sharp rather than big, I have some curved
> ones about an inch long which are fine, when I needed some more, I
> bought small, straight ones, because you got more in a pack, they are
> sharp and seem to go through and close with no problems.
>
> I second the recommendation of taping the backing and batting to the
> floor or table.
>
> Cheers
> Anne
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>while I baste it. I seem to be completely unable to get the backing, batting
>and top all nice and smooth and wrinkle free. I have just spent more of the
>afternoon basting and re-basting a lap quilt and I'm still not happy that
>it's 100%.
>So tips. Experienced quilters please walk me through step by step *exactly*
>what you do and how you keep evetything smooth. I've seen people using
>frames, bit mystified by them. How do they work, where do you get them and
>are they expensive?