I just discovered 505 Basting Spray! It. Is. Awesome.
It is (very nearly) odorless. Spray starch is way stinkier than this. It doesn’t gum up the machine and it makes quilting a dream. To use it, iron your bottom and quilt top very well. I also like to iron my batting, but that’s up to you. Start by laying out the batting first. Lay out the backing on top.
Lift up half of the backing to expose the batting.
Spray evenly with the 505 on the batting. You don’t need much.
Lay the backing back down and smooth it out with your hands starting from the center and working out. Lift the other side up and repeat. Turn it over and do the same for the top.
The pictures here are for a small doll quilt, but the same method works for a much larger quilt. The whole thing takes less than 5 min. No more pinning. No more puckers. And more importantly no more cursing while quilting. Yay! Happy basting (and quilting)!
I love 505 for smaller projects, but when I used it on a twin quilt, it shifted.
Hmm.. I just finished a very large lap quilt (my madrona rd challenge) and had no problems. What kind/thickness batting did you use? I used Pellon’s cotton batting (Nature’s Touch). Did you spray the batting or the top/backing?
I’m new to quilting but this seems like a good option. Does it all wash out the first washing? I love your blog. I hope you don’t mind but I’m pinning our whole tutorial page, lol. I just posted a really weird way I ended up putting together my first quilt. If you get a chance please check it out. 🙂 http://wildblumes.blogspot.com/2013/03/easy-quilting-for-crazy-people.html