Basting the 'Sandwich'

You'll have to let us know how it tuned out once you give it a try.

Charlotte

Thank you, Debra. I was looking for a laugh before I get to quilting and that picture does it. Polly

I think Debra wrote: I've used it on small items and I'm not willing to try it on a quilt because I'd have to do it outside wearing a breathing mask while standing upwind of the spray fall-out. I won't even discuss my ability to become stickier than the quilt layers.

I do use the flip side of the cutting mats for pinning but I was thinking something slick might be a little faster than the soft surface. The next trip to the 'do it yourself store', I'll see if they have a leftover of any old pattern. Shouldn't cost much and just might work a little better. Polly

So where does one find a dart sharpener? (Learn something new every day!) Roberta in D

"Judie in Penfield NY" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:460acbf5$0$27060$ snipped-for-privacy@roadrunner.com...

Please tell us why your circle is opposed to pins? I prefer them myself, but would never dream of insisting this was the only way to baste! Roberta in D

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Polly-

I have a 3 ft X 5 ft formica surface (sheet Formica glued to plywood- done by a professional) on my cutting table that works very well for pinning. The pins slide and bounce off it with hardly any scratches after using it for "everything quilty" for about 10 years. My Formica is the flat matte finish- wouldn't recommend the high sheen or nubby surface. When I have a larger sewing room- someday!- I'll go back to a 4X8 top- that's a great size for anything. You can use adhesive tape for smaller projects and the black clamps for larger ones. .

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

I will usually either pin or thread baste depending.

If it something I am going to hand quilt, I will thread baste. Mostly because no matter how careful I tell myself I am going to be I will mash a pin moving the hoop and have to spend an age getting it out of the quilt. It's a really dumb thing, but I will do it every time.

Machine quilting I just about always pin baste anymore. I always get all the pins out when machine quilting, and I always catch a thread under the foot if I thread baste. I don't do it with thread basted clothes, just quilts.

I've tried the spray baste, but did not like the "basteing buzz" that resulted. Had to take a break, have a cuppa, and quit acting stupid before I went on to do more. I would have to baste outdoors if I used that stuff, and that would be inconvienient in January or anytime the wind kicked up.

I don't own one of the little gun things. I did use one once at somebody else's house, but for a fast emergency shirt button repair rather than basteing. I have to say if you are prone to popping shirt buttons it would be a very good thing to keep handy.

NightMist

I have 2 full sheets of 4x8 plywood that I have cut in half leaving 4 x 4 pieces which I joined with three hinges on each pair. They will fold in half for storage and fold out to full 4 x 8 size. When I use both sets of them on a large kitchen/conference table we use for dining on, they provide an 8 x 8 surface to pin up virtually the largest quilt that you would want to do.I use clamps to hold 2 sides of the sandwich to the edge of the plywood and a 2" x 2" wood stick which I roll the outside of the backing/batting sandwich on and clamp that, to the other sides. I clamp that, to the plywood, after stretching the backing taught and then start pining the top from the center out to the edges. Never any puckering with that arrangement.

John

I take quilting classes Adult Ed at & we have what I think used to be called "oil cloth" that we put on top of the cutting tables when we pin baste a quilt. I know one of the students picked some up at TSWLTH & someone else said they picked it up at a home dec fabric store. Since we just bought a new dining room table, I thought I'd pick some up to cover it for those occasions when Adult Ed isn't convenient. The nice thing about the oil cloth is that you can just fold it up & put it in the closet - it's very portable.

When I spray baste, I have a large piece of plywood that DH sets up >> Thank you, Donna. I don't leave anything pinned long enough to worry >> about

John- You gave me a smile with that 8X8 size comment! I regularly make 10X10 king sized quilts (my current quilting/sewing room is

9'8"X10'4"!) and sometimes the quilts are larger to make the blocks come out even. Second, most of us here on the ng are gals.... we do not *have* a four foot reach to get to the middle of an 8X8 pinning surface! But thanks for the hinge idea. I will use that when I get my larger cutting surface... and it will be Formica again. Hope I can match the one I currently have and just add another hinged piece to it! One question- do you ever bury your pins' pointed tips in the plywood? Mine glide on the Formica but wood is softer and porous.

And, Polly, if you get a piece of Formica from the home improvement store, make sure it's not too thick for those black clamps if you use them. A regular kitchen counter type piece or a bar/island top will usually be too thick as well. That's why I had the custom top made with Formica covered plywood.

Leslie & The Furbabies > >

Pauline-

Same question I asked John- wouldn't the points of the pins go right thru the oil cloth and scratch the table top?

Leslie & The Furbabies > I take quilting classes Adult Ed at & we have what I think used to be

Naaaah, Leslie. I was thinking just plain old thin, slick formica. I'm imagining that when not needed that I'll be able to simply slip it between the end of a cabinet and the wall. If I do a big quilt (rarely), I send the top to my beloved longarmer. None of that football stadium sized quilting going on here. Polly

"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." wrote, in part> And, Polly, if you get a piece of Formica from the home improvement

Sporting goods department in big box store or a regular sporting goods store, most anywhere they sell darts. I think they're maybe $2. I never knew they made such a thing, I had tried my emery on my pin cushion, sandpaper and anything I could think of but then someone (I think it was here) suggested a dart sharpener.

Judie In WNY

Roberta Zollner wrote:

Leslie, my dining table is wood with a tile top -- very casual. It's also too thick for those black clamps. However, I discovered that those clips you can get to hold a picnic tablecloth on the table on a windy day work just great! They're easy to attach and do a fine job. Just FYI. :)

Sandy! Thanks! The custom top was $180 way back then and only 3X5. If I could use picnic table clamps and a standard ready-made counter the price would be more like $100 or even a bit less for 8X4- big difference!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

obvious)

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I don't think there is any credible reason. I supposethe most probable reason if you do something a particular way for long enough it becomes the 'definitive' way. The best explanation I've had is overall it is no quicker than thread basting and introduces the risk of needle breakage.

As one of those "No Sports" people, my experience with such stores is limited. I shall have to go exploring! Roberta in D

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On Mar 29, 7:49 pm, "Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." wrote:

I guess you could just keep adding 4 x 8 Hinged sheets of plywood to meet the needs of the quilt size you are doing. I have a table that is

6' long by 5' wide that we use as a dining table that I use but you could just as easily lay the sheets on the floor of a room that will accommodate the quilt size you are making. I haven't had any trouble with burying the tips of the pins, but I use the curved pins which don't leave the bottom fabric at the same acute angle as the straight safety pins would. I haven't done any king size quilts yet so I haven't needed to address that problem. I climb up on top of the whole shebang to start pining the center and then transfer to the floor for the surrounding pining. I think I may try to do a quilt on the floor with this arrangement to see how it works out. The reason I use the table is my back has taken a beating from years of carpentry and I find it sometimes hard to work on my hands and knees for extended periods of time which would be the case if I did the whole thing on the floor. The whole pining thing is the part of the quilting that is the most troublesome in my estimation. I was talking to the local quilt shop owner about the Grace quilt rack and she said one of the great things with a couple of the models, that the company offers, is that they allow you to mount the top and batting and back on three different feed rollers and therefore not have to pin or otherwise baste the sandwich together before quilting. Everything is held in tension alignment and fed into a work area for pucker free sewing. This is mostly used for free motion quilting. But could be adapted to stitch in the ditch sewing, I imagine. You do have to have the space to set up the quilting frame to do that, so if you are "space challenged" that might be a problem. I guess the only solution to this issue is a warehouse sized quilting room. Then you could have dedicated space for each element of the operation. Well, we can all dream , can't we?

John

Glad to have helped, Leslie! I was going crazy when we first bought this table and I discovered that my black clamps just weren't going to work. I had visions of never being able to pin baste at home again.