Upright quilt basting frame - opinions?

Meh, I guess it could work. Personally, if I was going this route, I'd go to Home Depot and buy some PVC pipes and connectors, and make the whole thing for under 60 bucks USD. I do, however, like the potential to use this setup as a good stand for taking pictures of your finished quilt.

I was more impressed with Sharon Schamber's basting method. I hadn't seen it before, and recently came across these videos.

part 1

2 Now, I'm not saying if you use this method, your quilts will look like Sharon's. But it can't hurt, right?

-Michele in NYC

The lower edge is still something like 45 cm over the floor, so at that size quilt, you'd still be either bending or sitting on your knees.

But I do like the being able to see the back too, and not having to clear my table :-)

Kind regards, Hanne in DK

Hi Michelle,

I also posted this on another group and had the same ideas given about using PVC. I was even shown this site with instructions.

I might be heading in that direction now too, but I'll also go check out the Sharon Schamber site now.

Thanks for your response.

Leigh Harris Perth, Western Australia

"Michele in NYC" wrote

Meh, I guess it could work. Personally, if I was going this route, I'd go to Home Depot and buy some PVC pipes and connectors, and make the whole thing for under 60 bucks USD. I do, however, like the potential to use this setup as a good stand for taking pictures of your finished quilt.

I was more impressed with Sharon Schamber's basting method. I hadn't seen it before, and recently came across these videos.

part 1

2 Now, I'm not saying if you use this method, your quilts will look like Sharon's. But it can't hurt, right?

-Michele in NYC

@Hanne: Yeah, the "clearing the table" part was the downside of Sharon's method. One day.

@Leigh: I don't know that I've ever seen "snap clamps" in the PVC aisle. I'll have to go back and check. Thanks.

-Michele in NYC

Personally, I think that costs a whole lot of money for something anybody could make with 4 boards and 4 C-clamps, or (better) with 4 boards and 4 bolts and 4 wingnuts and holes drilled about 2" apart all along the boards!

Very interesting!

My guild owns four boards, 8'x3"x3/4" that have canvas strips/pinning leaders tacked on each. We put them together in a square or rectangle of the correct size, holding the corners with small C-clamps.

Set it on four chair backs, one chair at each corner.

We pin the backing to the strips, layer batting and quilt top and pin the four edges then stand the "frame" up and baste or pin baste at our ease.

It stores away easily when taken apart, and guild members may barrow it anytime they need it.

It was very inexpensive and has been around for more than 20 years.

Bonnie, in Middletown, VA, where it is still cold but we have been spared the snow and ice except for last Friday when we had about an inch or snow.

Some where in the cobwebs of my brain I seem to recall someone who basted her quilts by hanging the backing on the wall, smoothing the batting over it and then smoothing on the quilt top over all of it then pin basting while standing up rather than bent over a table or crawling on the floor. I do not remember all the details she stated but it seems pretty simple. Now if I only had a wall that large with no furniture or pictures or anything else in the way! But I'd never pay that price for the basting frame- I'd come up with something on my own.

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Hi all,

When browsing through the latest issue of Australian Patchwork and Quilting I discovered an advert for an upright quilt basting frame. It's a frame that means no more kneeling or leaning over tables. It also means you can see both the back and front so can see if there are any pesky puckers and sort them easily as you go. It looks like it could be really good, especially for someone like me who seems to have great difficulty being able to pin in such a way that it is actually quiltable!

What I'd really like is for a few people to have a look and let me know what you think. For those who have the magazine (Vol 19 no 11), the advert is on page 121. Otherwise, you can see it on "Mulberry Millie's" eBay pages at the following links.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Leigh Harris Perth, Western Australia

Just think. A 48" quilt, 24" from the ground. The top will be a minimum of six feet high (the extra depends on your hold-fasts and bigger batting and base layers) You are going to be playing with step ladders to get up there. Aching arms? I should think so. Now do the maths with a queen or kingsize and you'll be 8+ feet in the air!

And how do you get your arm round to the back to push the needle back through (unless you are co-opting a friend to man the back)? Taking a small stitch would be possible, but, unless the tension of the quilt layers is loose, it's going to be a bear to do stitches of a decent length. If the tension is very loose, the chances multiply for puckering and unevenness.

Disappointingly, I think this is a fine gadget to look at and lust after, but one to be tried extensively before parting with hard-earned cash. I can see the use to hang quilts for photography or perhaps to baste-with-a-friend, but the latter would still give the Great Elf Unzaphtie k'nipshins.

Go for the low tech methods, they work as easily and are even shorter work if done in company. I do mine over a raised long table, but I quite like the idea of Sharon Schamber's basting method. It wins with portability; many brownie points for that alone.

Nel (Gadget Queen)