How to Quilt>Spray for Basting a Quilt

Basting Spray for Quilting

I’ll admit that I was very skeptical about this product, and having talked to my friend Pam Bauer, a machine quilting expert, it sounded like a kind of pain to use.

And frankly, the first time I saw it in a quilt shop, I wondered why a quilter would need it or want to spray some kind of glue in their quilt.

However, Pam uses it to baste all of her quilts for machine quilting – from king size quilts to wall hanging size quilts – and she loves it.

One thing that sounded like a problem was finding an area open enough to use it. Pam sets up a couple of tables outside in her yard, tapes the backing of the quilt on the tables and begins spraying.

If she is working on a large quilt, she rounds up a friend to help, so all of the layers will go down flat and smooth.

The other question I had was whether it would wash out. Pam assures me that it disappears with a quick washing, leaving no evidence of it being used.

This is a fabulous way to baste a quilt for machine quilting, but may not be a wise choice for hand quilting.

The spray allows you to move the layers around, but it is a glue-type spray, and will gum up a needle. While this is not so critical on a sewing machine, it might make it difficult to create beautiful hand quilting stitches. And, you will need to change your sewing machine needle after you finish quilting. Or, a little dab of alcohol will clean it up as you work your way through the quilt.

Pam's quick tips for spray basting a quilt:

• tape the backing to the tables or floor, right side down
• spray 1/4 of the backing with the basting spray
• fold the batting into quarters
• lay the folded batting onto the backing with the basting spray
• press down the batting with your hands – don’t slide your hands across the batting, just gently pat it down
• spray the next quarter of the backing
• unfold the batting and pat down the batting on that quarter of the backing
• do the remaining half, one quarter at a time
• repeat the process for adding the quilt top, working one quarter at a time

Not too long ago, I got bold and tried it with a tiny wall hanging. Mostly because I don’t have a large space outside, I worked on a table next to a couple of windows in my house, so the overspray could escape outside.
It was much more satisfactory than I thought it would be.

First, the spray was easy to control, and it didn’t take a bunch, so I wasn’t gagging as it went down.

Because this was a small piece, I covered my table with newspapers and sprayed each layer completely – one at a time.

For example, I sprayed the backing and then patted down the batting – half at a time. Then I worked on the quilt top, spraying the batting and then laying the top down, one half at a time.

And then I machine quilted the little piece. I was shocked to see that it held together the whole time. Even though this was a tiny piece (20 inches square), I was expecting the basting to come apart during my machine quilting, and it didn’t. Plus, it was really nice not to have to work around safety pins.

Although this was just a small project, I would be happy to try spray basting on a larger project and would anticipate some great results.

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren

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©2009, Penny Halgren
Penny is a quilter of more than 27 years who seeks to interest new quilters and provide them with the resources necessary to create beautiful quilts.

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