She Hates to Baste!

This is one of the first "practice" Jelly Roll Race quilt tops that I made some time ago. It will be a porch lap quilt I want to practice using the rulers for quilting. I have a few that I bought with the quilting machine but have never used. This is the experiment.  

I have tried more basting methods than I can recall but I finally got around to using the "Skewer Method" and guess what? It really is not bad and I must say preferable to my other types. The story is this... I have 4 quilt tops ready to quilt but I have lagged because I absolutely dread the basting process. However, this method keeps that layers snug, wrinkle free and on-grain. Using the board basting method was good but I had some re-do's from a dimple or wrinkle that was not obvious during the baste.

I used my drop-leaf cutting table that I moved into my garage (I know, sometimes sacrifices are required because my studio space is just too crowded.)

I bought these large binder clips at Staples, 8 for about $ 5.00. Smoothing each layer as I clip the binder clips to opposite sides. Equal tension is important.

With my semi-obsessive maintaining the grain line issues I added vertical strips of painters tape carefully measured to assure that I did not distort the grain while pinning.

  I used pins this time. This is a butter knife that I pilfered from the cutlery drawer because it has that little divot in the blade end. I use it to hold the pins as I close them. Saves the fingers.

• Amelie Scott teaches the process in this VIDEO!
• This is my new go-to basting method. Not one wrinkle, not one off-grain issue.
• I might need to clean my garage. I have tucked the cutting table away in there and covered it with an old sheet. Lots of room to work.