Basting A Quilt

Making a complete quilt top is the pretty part of quilting, but it’s flimsy and won’t last on its own.  Plus, it’s not warm and cuddly.

You also need batting (the middle layer of really warm stuff) and backing.  This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you shop through the link, it doesn’t cost you anything extra but that I may receive a small commission.

Now, you can send your quilt top out to a long arm quilter, and pay them to put the layers together and quilt a pretty design into it.  They do stunning work.  But you can quilt a full quilt on a standard machine at home.  In order to do so, and to minimize wrinkles, you need to baste your layers together.

There are lots of different kinds of batting, and they all serve a purpose.   Some are thinner and more lightweight, some are puffy.  They are made of cotton, and polyester, and blends.

I am not going to use this post to go in depth on which types and brands I like best, the most important thing about your batting is that it should be 4-6 inches longer and wider than your quilt top, so that you have 2-3 inches around each side.

You also need backing.  You can use the same fabric as your quilt top, or any other fabric.  You can use extra wide backing, so that there is no seam on your backing.  Or, you can piece together your backing to get it up to the right size.

I tend to use flannel for baby and lap sized quilts.  It’s warm and snuggly.

For the big blue quilt that made up the posts of this basics series, I used an extra wide 108 inch cotton.  I needed such a big piece for an extra long queen mattress, and I thought flannel would be too hot for a bed quilt.

For this post, the photos of basting the backing to the batting are NOT from the big blue quilt.  It was too big and unwieldy.  Not only did it not look awesome in photos,

it wasn’t really a good teachable moment, because it was hard to see what was going on.  Instead, for the backing only, my photos show a baby sized blue flannel backing (from the baby giraffe baby blanket).

The steps for basting a quilt are simple, but it does take some practice to get good at it, as well as to be comfortable doing it.  There are dozens of ways to baste a quilt, this is what works for me… it’s way that I get the most consistent results and the least amount of puckering/wrinkles.

I use my kitchen table, and I spray baste.  It’s like spray glue, although I’ve heard it’s not worth it to buy regular spray glue, because it will gum up your machine.  There is spray glue that is meant for quilting, it’s in the quilting notions section of your craft store, and this is my favorite brand.

Start by laying your batting out on the table, and smooth out any wrinkles.

Lay your backing (right side up) on top of the batting, making sure you’ve got it lined up well and smooth out any wrinkles.

Most quilts are longer and wider than a table, but working in sections makes it totally doable without any specialized equipment.

Center your quilt on the table, both length and width.  I work with the width of my table, so that I can be basting the widest amount of fabric at a time.

Fold the backing fabric back, each fold should be about 6-ish inches, until you are the middle of the quilt.

Holding the spray basting about 10-12 inches above your batting, spray the “glue” about 6 inches tall by the full width available.  Unfold the fabric and press against the batting, smoothing wrinkles as you go.

I move my batting and fabric left to right across my table, basting about 6-8 inches at a time.

I move from the center towards the top, and then reposition the quilt to the center, and repeat, moving from the center to the bottom.

Spray basting is a temporary hold, so fabric can be pulled apart and smoothed out before pressing down again, if there are any wrinkles.

Once the back is completely basted, I flip the whole thing over, and repeat all steps with the quilt top, basting it to the batting, about 6-8 inches at a time, always stopping to smooth out any wrinkles.

Once the whole thing is basted, it’s ready to be quilted.

My tip… start small!  Don’t try spray basting for the first time with a giant bed quilt.  Start with something about the width of your work space, and work your way up to something big.