New Basting Technique

Yes, I realize it's Wednesday, and I didn't post anything for my Tasting Table Tuesday segment yesterday. It was a super busy day, and before I knew it, the day was over. So here's my Tuesday post on Wednesday.

I'm trying out a new basting technique, and so far, I think it's going to work great. I don't have any floor space big enough to baste a quilt and I don't really want to move all the furniture out of my living room every time I have a quilt to baste. I normally baste on a large table, but my quilts are usually slightly bigger, so I have to baste, then shift the quilt, then baste some more. It's hard to keep a consistent tension on the backing fabric, so it's not the best solution. So here's what I came up with, although it will only work for quilts no bigger than 72" x 80".

Remember the old fold-up cardboard dressmakers pattern cutting boards? (here's a link to a new one if you don't know what I'm talking about). I happened to have two VERY old ones laying around, unused. Mine are 40" wide x 72" long, and I taped them together to make one large board that is 80" wide x 72" high, then hung them on the wall. These boards are made of fairly thick cardboard so you can pin directly into them like a cork board. I pinned my backing fabric down first, making sure it was nice and flat. Then centered the batting on top, and tacked it lightly in place with a few pins as well, then pinned my quilt top in place all around the outside edge, pinning straight thru into the cardboard every 4" to 6". Now that it's all smooth and flat, I can go back and pin baste with safety pins every few inches. (I see that I have a little adjusting to do on the bottom edge of my quilt - there's a little extra bit of fullness that needs to be worked in before I start the basting - isn't it amazing what we see in pictures?)
While I prefer pin-basting, this technique would also work well with basting spray. Here's a closeup of one corner so you can see each of the layers pinned in place. You can also see a little bit of the hanging mechanism I came up with. I punched a metal grommet in the center of each board, piggy-backed a pair of those little hooks that you find on zipper pulls or lanyards, which I then hung on a Hercules Hook in the wall. You can do whatever works for you, but that's what I had on hand to work with, and it works for me!

I'll let you know how the basting process goes, but so far - so good! At least I'm upright, instead of kneeling on a hard floor, or bending over a table. So much more comfortable!

Update - I just finished the pin-basting and it worked like a charm! Knees and back are still good! Time to quilt...