Magic in a can!

As a long time quilter I have worked with different methods of basting my quilts.

I always used to simply use a needle and thread to baste the quilt sandwich together, which worked incredibly well. But is was very time consuming - a king size quilt would take well over an hour to baste.

The other down side is that the quilt would shift sometimes, which is really annoying when you have worked so hard to centre the back pieces!

I have been using quilters safety pins for a year, I love these on smaller projects, but I have found they shift the quilt too much on a larger quilt. On smaller quilts shifting is much less of a concern. Small shifts over a huge space builds until the centre of the back is completely off.

I have also found that as I FMQ my mind tends to wander off and I zone out. I often miss the fact that I am approaching a safety pin until it is too late and my machine is almost on top of it!

Still I prefer the pins to the needle and thread method!

This leads me to the magic in a can method!

The curvy quilt I shared with you yesterday is full of curvy seams and the backing was pieced so I was really keen to make sure I got the front and the back positioned properly. So I started investigating my other options and the most obvious was a spray adhesive.

I got some from The Village Haberdashery.

From The Village Haberdashery

The instructions on the can are really clear.

You lay the quilt layers out - preferably outside, which isn't an option in freezing England. You peel back one half of the quilt top and spray the basting glue onto the wadding. Then gently smooth out the quilt from the middle out, smoothing out the top as you go.

You repeat the process for the other side. Then you can flip the quilt and repeat the process for the backing.

I found this video on You Tube that shows how to use the spray:

Having used it on 3/4 large quilts I won't be going back to pins or needle and thread. It has allowed me to work on huge quilts both in my machine and by hand without having to worry about everything shifting around.

As an experiment I also left the curvy quilt for a few weeks after I basted it to see if the glue would wear off - it hasn't! It is still just as strongly put together as it was when I sprayed it.

The beauty of the spray basting is that I can re-position the quilt top and the back if I need to - but I haven't had to yet!

What's you favourite way to baste your quilts?

PS I don't receive any form of incentive from either the shops or manufacturers I chat about on my blog.