Sorry for not blogging for such a long time. 2 more weeks of teaching, then all my time can go into my business so I should be blogging and putting up tutorials on a much more consistent basis.

Had some customer quilts to baste so I thought I’d take some pictures of how I do it and put together a tutorial.  I’ve done spray basting for a few years now and absolutely love it.  I have quilts that I basted months ago and they have not lost their holding power.  I use June Taylor Basting spray (I purchase it at JoAnn’s with a coupon or when it is on sale).  I can usually get about 6-7 lap size quilts out of 1 can.  And I usually baste 5-10 quilts at a time.  I started out basting on the floor (either in our enclosed patio room or the garage). But that was hard on my knees (one time I ended up with large fluid filled knots on my knees-turned out to be swollen bursa), so now I have construction knee pads. Now I have a couple of tables and prefer to do it that way.  So this is what I will do my tutorial on.

I have folding tables from Walmart (I prefer these to the folding tables from Costco or Sam’s Club because they are thinner and work with the clamps I got from Home Depot). They are about 30″ by 72″ so when I put them together I have a 60″ by 72″ to work with.

Please excuse my junky backyard-I will have time to get it in shape this summer.  I have a patio that I will be able to set my tables up there instead of in the dirt also, but need to clean and organize it as well. If I have a large quilt I use some tablecloths on the ground to keep the fabric and batting off the ground.

So for this quilt I wanted the seam to be near the middle of the quilt so I centered it on the tables and used my clamps (got these at Home Depot for $.99 each).

Then I use tape on the opposite side (I like to use regular masking tape rather than the blue tape-it seems to hold better).  I’m lucky with the climate we have here as it isn’t really humid.  I did spray baste one day early in the morning when it was a bit more humid and the tape didn’t stick after a while as everything became a bit damp.

With the way this backing was I was able to use the clamps on 3 sides. Most of the time I can only use them on 2 sides. You want to pull the fabric tight enough so there are no wrinkles, but make sure you don’t stretch the fabric.

Then I lay the backing out on the backing fabric. I like to use cotton fabric over polyester as it see,s to stick to the fabric better and I don’t need to use very much spray.  If you didn’t know there is a right side and a wrong side to batting.

Not sure if you can see it, but the right side of the batting will have what look like little holes going down through the batting (top photo), and you want these to be going down (kind of like the holes your needle will make as you quilt the quilt).

This is the bottom side of the batting folded onto the right side.iAnd you can’t see the little holes on the backside, so you want this side facing the backing.  Another thing to look for with cotton batting is if it has a side that is nubbier (has little bumps) than the other.  This nubby side should be facing up right under the quilt top.

Then I fold it halfway over.

And this is the basting spray I use.  I have not had any problem with it gumming up my needle or machine, even when I start quilting right away.  I spray this half and then smooth the batting back down.  When I bring the batting back over the [art that has been sprayed I first smooth it down the center and then work on each side.  If you get a fold or wrinkle you can pull the batting up and reposition it.  Then I do the same with the other half.

Then I lay the quilt top on the batting (making sure it is even and going the right direction if it is direction (either the top or the backing).

Then I do the same thing with the top.  I fold over half, spray and then smooth it down. Then I do the other half.

Ok, I was able to get a few quilts tops together to do some more spray basting videos, this time with instructions.  Hope they help you.

Here is a video of a larger quilt that fits the tables and I am able to use clamps on all sides.

Here is a video of basting a quilt that is larger that my tables.  Not my largest, but to one larger on all sides you simply need to shift it more times.  It helps so much to have someone helping you.