Layering and Spray Basting a Quilt

They Thought I was Nuts
When I Told Them I Found a Beautiful Jelly Roll
at the Quilt Shop

But Their Eyes Sparkled When They Saw the
Delicious Heirloom Quilt I Created from Those
Easy-to-Use Pre-cut Strips of Fabric!

Who would have believed that wandering around a quilt shop these days could be almost like a visit to a bakery?

A quick look at a counter top and you will probably discover Layer Cake fabric bundles, Honey Buns, Fat Quarters and Jelly Rolls - maybe even more.

Just like tasty pasteries, each has a different attraction, and using any of them you can create a beautiful heirloom quilt.

Now you can have the best tools at your fingertips to ensure that you maximize your pre-cut fabrics - ensuring you have enough fabric to make the quilt you want to make.

Tell me more - - -

The easiest method of basting your quilt is to use spray basting. I have tried a couple of different brands, and really like the 505 brand.

Be sure to get the temporary variety – that way, you can re-position the layers of your quilt until you have them the way you want them, and they are without wrinkles and puckers.

First, spread the quilt backing on the floor, a table, outside – or wherever you are going to baste your quilt.

If you are spraying on a floor in your house, you probably will want to surround the backing with newspaper or something that will prevent the spray from landing on the carpet – it is sticky and will attract cat hair, dirt, bugs – whatever.

Because I buy king or queen size batting, I need to trim the batting around the backing.
So my first step was to lay the batting down, then place the backing on top so I could trim the batting.

Because the backing and quilt top were relatively the same size, I didn’t need to have very much extra batting, but I did trim about 1 inch around the outside of the backing.

Once the batting was trimmed, I spread the backing on the floor – right side facing down.
For this step, it is not necessary to smooth the batting down – you just want to center the batting on the quilt back.

The next step is to fold the batting into half, and then in half once more. The result is that you have all of the batting folded into one corner of the backing.

Once the batting is folded into one corner, you are ready to spray.

You will want to make sure that the backing is smooth in the corner you are spraying.

Begin spraying in the bottom quarter where you will first unfold the batting.
In this case, it was the bottom right corner.

It doesn’t take much spray – just a light coating, and hold the can 12 – 18 inches away from the backing.

After you have sprayed the corner, unfold the batting and pat it down onto the backing – removing any puckers, air pockets or anything else that would make the layers uneven or cause puckers or tucks to be sewn as you machine quilt.

This is the next area for spraying, and once that side is spray basted, unfold the batting on top of the backing and pat it down so the two layers are smooth.

Then proceed to spray an area of the backing about 1 foot wide, along side of the batting.

After each spraying, unfold the batting and pat it down so it is smooth.

Continue spray basting in this manner until all of the batting is “attached” to the backing.

Take another look at the batting and be sure that it is smooth and secured to the backing.

Now you are ready to spray baste the top of the quilt onto the batting.

Because all of the layers on this quilt were so close in size, I wanted to be sure that the top and backing matched. I found that the easiest way to accomplish that was to lay the quilt top onto the batting and then spray baste a corner of the top – without folding the top into quarters on top of the batting.

Normally I handle the quilt top exactly the same as the backing and batting – fold the batting into quarters, spray one quarter, then another quarter, and then 1 foot down the sides.

However, this seemed to work better when I left most of the top in place and simply folded down a corner, spray basted it, and then patted it down.

Once the first corner was secured, I folded the quilt in half (as shown), and spray basted the bottom quarter (by my right hand).

Once sprayed, I unfolded the quilt top and patted it onto the batting, removing any uneven places.

Then I folded the quilt top in half the other direction, so I could spray baste the other half of the top.

This half was basted exactly the same way the batting was basted to the backing – by spraying strips about 1 foot wide until all of the top was basted onto the batting.