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Quilt Basting Research

  • Writer: vafibrearts
    vafibrearts
  • Mar 29, 2021
  • 13 min read

Hello Friends and Welcome!


Recently, I've been thinking about how many UFOs and in progress projects I have in my life. I love the experience of working on many things at once, it's exciting for me to be able to work on projects that use a variety of techniques, colours, and patterns. And if I need to take a break from a difficult, irritating, or confusing project, I'll always have something else to work on.


While this system makes me happy, it's definitely not for everyone. And it also encourages me to continuously start new projects without committing to the completion of those I've already begun. I used to think this was because piecing was my favourite part of the quilt making process, or that I don't like quilting, but the reality is that I don't have enough quilting experience to make that claim.


So this week, I want to remedy that with a little research and experimentation. To prepare myself for some quilting in the future, the next step I'll need to take is basting!



What is Basting?


Basting is simply any process which is used to temporarily hold together multiple pieces of fabric. There are a few different methods of basting, the most common one is pin basting or pinning. This uses straight or safety pins to hold fabric in place while sewing and, in my experience, is the most common method of basting.

Another common method is thread basting. Thread basting holds together the layers of fabric by sewing them together with long stitches, usually in a contrasting colour. This makes them easy to see and to remove when they are no longer needed.

The final method I know is fusible or glue basting. Depending on what part of a project you're working on, there are a lot of different glues or fusible products used for this; water soluble craft glue, heat activated fusible fabric, and spray adhesives to name a few. If you choose to experiment with glue basting, I recommend testing it on scrap fabric to see how the product you're using affects the fabric and experience of sewing.

I have experience using each of these in a variety of projects, and depending on the situation, there are times one method will work better than others, and times where it is completely up to the creator’s preference.


Thus far, my definition has been very general; in some contexts, the term ‘basting’ often refers to something very specific. In terms of quilting, and the way I used it at the beginning of this post, basting refers to a particular step in the quilt making process; the quilt sandwich.



What is a Quilt Sandwich?


A finished quilt usually contains three layers: the quilt top, the batting, and the backing. Of course, some people like a little extra filling in their quilt, be it for warmth or to make the quilting really stand out, and might use multiple layers of batting in the middle.

When stacked together is this order, the quilt is in a stage commonly called the quilt sandwich. And when talking about basting a quilt, most people are referring to basting together these three layers to prepare for quilting. This is the stage I will be exploring today.



Basting Research - Recurring Tips and Conflicting Advice


To help myself prepare to baste my next quilt, I decided I needed to do a little more research. I visited a variety of blogs to learn from their advice, and I will link all of them at the end of this post so you can check them out too!


The general consensus seems to be that beginners should start small. The first few times you baste on your own, you will probably want to be working with a smaller quilt, such as a baby quilt, or throw quilt. Everyone’s definition of small will be different though, so use your best judgment to determine what size is manageable for you!


You will also want all the parts of your quilt to be clean before you start. Use a lint roller to remove stray threads, pet hair, and any other particles that may have stuck to your quilt pieces.


Backing

Before basting, you need to gather all the components of your quilt; the top, the batting, and the backing. The backing is a really interesting piece of the quilt with a variety of possibilities.


For beginners, it can be a good idea to start with a whole cloth backing. This is a single piece of fabric without seams. Because there are no seams in the middle of the backing, whole cloth doesn't add any additional bulk to the quilt sandwich and can be a little easier to quilt.

If you want to try a whole cloth backing, but your quilt is larger than the standard width of fabric (about 43” once selvage has been removed) you can get extra wide fabric. This is a specialty size that’s usually only available at quilt stores, it can be up to 108” wide, but you should check with your local store since their sizes may be different. Before you set your heart on an extra wide backing, note that the pattern selection is fairly limited, mostly consisting of simple tone on tone patterns.


If you find a normal width fabric with a print that you love, you can use that instead, but you will probably have a few seams in your backing. This isn’t a problem, but you will want to check if your print is directional, meaning it has a correct orientation and could be placed upside down by accident. Check out the prints below for some examples.

Striped prints are also directional. You will want to be careful that when you piece together your backing, the stripes are running in the same direction. Here are a few examples of directional striped fabrics.

If you don’t like the look of a single print in your backing, you can also make a pieced backing. You could use leftover blocks or fabric remnants from the quilt top to tie the two together, or create something totally different that contrasts the quilt top. The choice is up to you!


One final thing to keep in mind when choosing a backing is how visible you want the quilting to be. If you are an avid quilter and you’re super confident in your stitching and want to really show it off, you can use a solid colour backing. If you’re a beginner like me, and aren’t super confident in your quilting, you could use a very busy print or lots of piecing to help hide any flaws.


Regardless of what you want your backing to look like, you will need it to be bigger than your quilt top. The general consensus from my research was that a quilt backing should be a minimum of 2” wider on all sides than the quilt top, but could be wider by as much as 4”. As an example, if my quilt is 64" tall, and I wanted to have 2" of excess on all sides; 2" for the top + 64" length of quilt + 2" for the bottom = 68" backing length.


This additional fabric will be trimmed away after quilting, so I don’t recommend incorporating a lot of piecing around the edges of your quilt backing.


Mark the centre points along each side of the backing. These markers will make it much easier to centre all the layers of the quilt sandwich. You could use pins for this, or draw directly on the fabric.

To set up your backing, you need to spread it out on a hard, flat surface larger than the size of the quilt with the wrong side facing up. You can use a table, a kitchen island, or the floor depending on the size of the quilt. It is not recommended to baste on carpet as you could accidentally baste your quilt to the carpet and have to redo everything.


If you don’t have an area large enough for your whole quilt, you can lay out the centre of your quilt backing on a large table with the excess hanging over two opposite sides. You want to make sure that the whole quilt is flat on the table in at least one direction so those edges can be secured. Some people prefer this method because it doesn’t involve crawling around on the floor, which can be hard on your back and knees.


Alternatively, you could lay out as much of your quilt as the largest area of floor space can accommodate, and roll or fold up the excess. From experience, I would suggest that that you find a space that can fit at least half your quilt, doing it in thirds or less will make it really difficult to baste effectively.

Use wide masking tape or painters tape to secure the edges of the backing. This will hold the fabric taught to prevent wrinkles and tucks, and will stop any shifting while you add and adjust the other layers. Your tape should be 1 ½” or wider so it has enough area to hold both the fabric and basting surface securely. If you’re basting on a table, you could substitute with clamps.


Batting

Next, you’ll need some batting, also commonly called wadding. There are a variety of factors to consider when buying batting. Fibre content seems to be the biggest factor. It affects the weight of the quilt, washing process, and loft. The common types that I'm aware of are cotton, wool, and polyester. The batting I use is a blend of 80% cotton, 20% polyester, I chose this because it is commonly available, and usually a relatively cheap option. Cotton batting is generally recommended for beginners.

Another property of batting is the loft. Loft refers to how puffy the batting is. High loft is very puffy and will emphasize the quilting more. Low loft is flatter and feels much more like a thick fabric.


When buying batting, it’s usually available two ways. First is precut, these are usually rolled tightly in a bag and cut to common bedding sizes like double, queen, and king. Batting can also be bought off the bolt like fabric and is available in a variety of widths. I recommend contacting your local quilt store to see what sizes they have available.


To prep your batting for basting, you will want to remove the wrinkles. While my research agrees this is something you should do, there was some disagreement on how to go about it.


A common method is to lay out your backing as above, then spread the batting on top. Smooth out any wrinkles and let the whole thing rest overnight, then continue with basting the following day. This won’t work if you plan to baste in the middle of a busy room in your house since it would be very upsetting to get pasta sauce or muddy footprints on your half finished quilt. I assume a good alternative would be draping it over an extra bed or unused dining table for the night.


I found a source that suggested you could iron batting to prep it, but another source said you should never iron your batting. I assume this is because they’re using batting with different properties; polyester is made of plastic and a hot iron could cause parts of it to melt, making the batting crunchy and hard to work with. This would be easily solved by turning down the temperature on your iron or using a pressing cloth to help reduce direct heat. I also wonder if using an iron would crush the loft of a high loft batting, making it less puffy. If using a low loft batting with little to no polyester, it would probably be fine to iron it.

The final method I read about was to put the batting in the dryer with a damp cloth, the humidity should help to remove the wrinkles. Make sure you take the batting out either before the cycle is complete, or as soon as it finishes. If you leave it to sit in the drier, the wrinkles will set back in as the batting cools down.


Once prepped, lay out your batting on top of the backing. Align the corner of your batting with one corner of the backing and smooth out any wrinkles. If your batting is larger than your backing, you will need to trim it. Some sources said batting should be roughly the same size as the backing, while others suggested it should be smaller than the batting but still a minimum of 2” larger on all sides than the quilt top.

You can choose to secure your batting in place using more tape, but I have found that the texture of the batting holds onto the backing fabric well enough that this isn’t always necessary.


Quilt Top

The next step is to add the quilt top. Prep it by pressing all of the seams to keep them in the right place. You can also sew around the perimeter of the quilt top, about ⅛” in from the edge to help protect the seams. This is called a stay stitch and is really useful on a quilt top with a lot of piecing, but is not necessary for all quilts.


Mark the centre points of all sides of the quilt top, then lay it out on top of the batting with the right side facing up. Line up the marked points on the quilt top with those on the quilt backing to ensure your top is properly centred. Smooth out the quilt top.


Now you can start basting. To baste a quilt, you can use any of the three common methods I mentioned earlier; pin basting, thread basting, and spray basting. Every quilter will have their own preference, so I’ve tried to find some pros and cons for each one.


Pin Basting

This method seems to be the most common. When I looked back at all the blogs I referenced, I realized that if they mentioned their personal favourite method, they all chose pin basting. For this method, you should use safety pins.

Starting from the middle of the quilt and working towards the edges, pin the three layers together, smoothing the quilt top as you go. Based on my research, you should be placing a pin every 4” to 6" in a grid pattern. Regardless of the exact measurable distance between pins, if you place your hand anywhere on the quilt, you should be touching at least one pin. Also remember that the smaller the spacing is between pins, the more of them you will need.


Closing all the safety pins will be hard on your fingers, but you can use tools to make it a little easier. Many blogs referenced a tool called Kwik Clip, but I’ve also heard that a spoon works just as well.

If you choose to pin baste, don’t close the pins when you’re done. If you leave them open in their container, you won’t need to reopen the pins when it’s time to baste the next quilt. A lot of quilters like to use curved safety pins since the shape helps to speed up the pinning. I’ve also read that rust-proof pins are best, I assume this is because as they age, the pins may begin to discolour the fabric.


The pros of pin basting are;

  • Your quilt is really secure and can stay basted for a long time

  • Good for use with a domestic sewing machine

  • Preferred method of many quilters so there's lots of available resources

  • Pins are reusable

The cons of pin basting are;

  • It can hurt your fingers if not using extra tools

  • It can take several hours to complete, especially if placing pins densely

  • If you don’t already own a lot of them, the upfront expense of buying hundreds of safety pins can be pretty high

  • If you want to hand quilt, the pins will get in the way of your quilting frame or hoop

Thread Basting

This method is most common for hand quilters. Thread is flat and malleable, so it cooperates with a quilting frame or hoop really well.

To thread baste, select a thread colour that contrasts your quilt top. This extra visibility will help you to remove the threads at the end so you won’t accidentally leave basting stitches in the finished quilt.


Starting from the centre of the quilt, use long stitches to secure the three layers of the quilt, smoothing out the quilt top as you go. If you thread your needle directly off the spool, you can use one continuous basting thread. I don’t believe any of my sources made any particular recommendations regarding stitch length or spacing.


Pros of Thread Basting;

  • The quilt sandwich is fairly secure

  • Great for hand quilting and can be used on a domestic sewing machine

  • Basting threads can be stored on an empty spool or bobbin for reuse

  • Great way to use up old thread

Cons of Thread Basting;

  • The least popular method from my sources

  • Basting threads will need to be cut if the quilting pierces through them, this could make them too short to reuse, so it can be wasteful

  • It can take several hours to complete

Spray Basting

Spray basting is the most unique method. It uses an aerosol can to apply adhesive to the quilt and stick the layers together.


It also requires a slightly different method. Follow the steps above to place the backing and batting. Once you’ve trimmed the batting, fold back half of it. Starting in the middle and working in rows, spray about 6” across the underside of the batting, then press it against the backing fabric. Use your hands to smooth out the batting and to help distribute the adhesive. Continue until you’ve finished the first half and repeat with the second half.


Follow the steps above to place the quilt top. Fold back half of the quilt top and spray the adhesive onto the batting starting in the middle and working in rows, just as before. Smooth out the quilt top and repeat on the other side.


Do not spray the adhesive directly on the fabric as it could discolour the fabric or affect the texture.


I’ve heard that spray basting alone doesn’t always hold the quilt sandwich properly, so it’s a good idea to baste around the edge using thread or pins.


Pros of Spray Basting;

  • The fastest method

  • The quilt sandwich is fairly secure

  • Easy to peel off and reapply if there are creases or if the layers become crooked

  • Since nothing is piercing through the layers of fabric, the underlying surface is less important, you could work on a tarp in your garden if you wanted

Cons of Spray Basting;

  • Even when being careful, it makes a mess than can be hard to clean up

  • May discolour your fabric

  • Requires the use of one of the other methods to secure the edges to prevent the layers from separating

  • Expensive over time as the spray runs out and you need to buy more

  • Spray adhesive is toxic, you will need to wear a mask and work in a ventilated space



As you can see, there’s no single way to baste a quilt. So Friends, feel free to experiment and learn for yourself which ones you prefer! As for myself, I think I will be using pin basting. I want to try to replicate the method I used for my first quilt, Rainbow Railfence, but do it better. Check back next week when I share what that method was, what I think I did wrong, and what changes I've made to try to be a more successful baster.


This research has given me a lot of great advice and I would love to try all the different basting methods! If you have any additional advice, please share it in the comments below, or by sending me an email through my contact page. You can also join my Facebook group or tag me on Instagram @vafibrearts to share photos of your basting progress!


I'm really looking forward to sharing my basting process next week, and so excited to be taking another step towards another finished quilt!


Until next time Friends,

VA



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