You know the nearer your destination the more you’re just basting away.
Always a little earworm for y’all!
Now that First Notes quilt tops are popping up all over the place, I want to share how I baste my quilts. I was dying crawling all over the floor, and I don’t remember where I saw this, but I grabbed onto the idea and use it all the time.
You will need a good size table, something you don’t mind pin scratches on, and clamps. I found these at Lowe’s for a couple bucks each. They’re great for my small hands, and have an easy release latch.
Find the center of your backing fabric and center it on your table, right side down. Place one clamp in the middle of the long edge of the table, then head to the opposite side of the table. Smooth your fabric towards you, do not pull tight, and clamp it to the table. Repeat this around the table, using as many clamps as necessary. For my 5 foot table I use three clamps on each long side.
Find the center of your batting and lay it gently over the backing and clamps. If your batting has a scrim, make sure the scrim side is facing the backing.
And now lay your quilt top on top of the batting, right side up. Check the sides draping around the table and make sure there is batting and backing extending past your quilt top. Starting in the center, gently smooth the quilt outwards and then start pinning. I have this great handy dandy Kwik Klip tool that helps me pin and unpin when needed. More on that later in the post.
I like to pin so that when I lay my hand on the quilt it touches about 4 pins.
Now you have pinned the entire top that is on the table, but there is more quilt hanging down the sides!! What to do? No worries, I’ve got you covered.
Unclamp all the clamps on the table. Just reach under the top and batting and unclamp it. Then you want to slide the entire quilt sandwich to one side of the table. Leave just a small pinned area at the edge of the table and the rest of the table will be unpinned area. Starting at the center of the pinned side, clamp the whole sandwich to the table.
Gently fold back the unpinned top and batting, leaving the backing on the table. Be careful the weight of the top and batting doesn’t pull on the backing. Smooth the backing and clamp it to the table.
Fold the batting back over the table and smooth it out, then repeat with the quilt top. You can clamp the sides if need be.
Starting at the center continue pinning the quilt top. When you have finished this section, rotate and repeat until the entire quilt top is pin basted.
This has saved my knees and back from complete torture.
Another little hint I will give you. If you are planning on an intense quilting design on the quilt and the pins are going to be a problem, purchase some wash away thread. Take the pin basted quilt sandwich to your machine and quilt a large meander using the wash away thread. Now you can remove all the pins and add your quilting designs. The wash away basting thread does just that, it washes away. (do NOT under any circumstance lick the end of the thread so you can thread the needle, LOL). I use Superior Vanish thread.
I want to share with you the Handy Dandy tool I mentioned earlier. It is called Kwik Klip. I LOVE this tool and will not baste without it.
I created a little video to show you how it works.
What do you think? Pretty cool, huh? Even cooler is that Paula Jean Creations is sending one U.S. Quilt Concert Goer a Kwik Klip!!
Giveaway Rules
In order to enter for the prize drawing you must do the following
1-post a photo of your finished First Notes flimsy (a flimsy is just the top, no quilting required) on Instagram using a public Instagram account by 11:59 Eastern on Thursday, October 28th, 2021 (if you don’t want to make your primary account public, you can always create a second, public account to use for this quilt along and other projects like this) IF YOU HAVE ALREADY POSTED YOUR FIRST NOTES QUILT TOP, YOU ARE ALL SET HERE.
2-follow @cassandrabeaver, @lovinglylissa, and @kwikklip
3- include the hashtags #quiltconcert2021 and #quiltconcertquilttop
4- Write in your post the country you live in. <——do not forget this!!!
Winners will be selected by random drawing and will be contacted via Instagram direct message by Saturday, October 30th, 2021. The winner must claim their prize by responding to the message with their mailing address by 11:59pm on Monday, November 1st 2021. If the prize is not claimed at that time, we will select an alternate winner.
(This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram.)
GRAND PRIZES!!
We have been able to put together THREE GRAND PRIZES for the Quilt Concert 2021 series.
Grand Prize #1 open to all U.S. residents includes (1) curated 5 piece fat quarter bundle from Dabble and Stitch, (1) Carolyn Friedlander fat quarter bundle from Sew to Speak, (1) $50 gift card to Red Rooster Quilts and (1) queen size wool batting from Hobbs Batting
Grand Prize #2 open to all U.S. and Canadian residents included (1) Oliso mini maker iron from Oliso and (1) set of 3 Sewfine Thread Gloss from Sewfine.
Grand prize #3 open Worldwide includes (1) 6 month subscription to Make Modern Magazine from Make Modern Magazine.
ALL CONCERT GOERS WHO ENTER will also receive a small prize from Cassandra and I.
To enter you must fill out this google form. It will ask for your name, address and a photo of your quilt top, along with permission for us to use that photo in various marketing. You do not have to have an Instagram to enter.
If you have made more than 1 quilt top, please feel free to fill out a separate entry for each one.
Entries must be received by midnight (Eastern Time) October 28.
Winners will be chosen and notified around the first week of November.
Prize from Cassandra and I will be mailed out mid to late November.
PJ Jam Zoom Party!
This is it!!! Tonight is the last zoom party for the Quilt Concert. Stop by and say hi! We love to see you!!!
Lovinlgy, Lissa