Pin Basting - A Cautionary Tale

Thank you for all your get well wishes!  I feel much better.  Funny, well enough to quilt, but not nearly well enough for housework.

Fabric APB!!
Julie is looking for a red fabric and I know how she is feeling.  Without the help of generous quilters I never could have finished my Mothers Garden quilt.   Please pop over to her post and see if you can help her.
http://quiltjewelry.blogspot.com/2013/01/that-red-fabric.html

On Sunday coco assisted me in the sewing room while I finished the Log Cabin top.  What a nice pup.

Today was quilt basting day.  I decided to offer step by step of how I pin baste on my table.  This method can be used with any sized table, even a card table.  A folded banquet table works well or you can make a table with plywood and 2 upturned trash barrels.

Line the surface with cutting mats.  I cut a really old one for the small spaces.

Fold each layer in half and half again to find the center.  Mark with a safety pin.

Lay the backing face down, centering the pin with the center of the table.

Using extra large binder clips, secure the backing to table.  Be careful not to stretch the fabric too much.   Also try and keep the fabric grain straight in both directions.  If you have a pieced back it is a good idea to secure those areas.

I like to let the batting "rest" out of the package for a day or so.  Here is coco helping it to relax.  Good girl.

Smooth the batting over the backing careful not to stretch or pull it.  Match the center pins on the backing and batting - and don't forget to remove the one from the backing so it's not quilted in.  (I used an old photo here, cause I forgot to take one this morning)

Last spring I quilted the backing to my daughters quilt on upside down, so now I'm going to mark the upper right hand corner and make sure both layers are the right way - duh....

All set for pinning!

I try to come up with a pinning plan and do the whole quilt the same way in each block.  This makes it easier to remove them later, I think. 

It is a good idea to add a few extra where the blocks meet and may shift.  I follow the rule of quilting the grid first, then filling in later.

Release all the binder clips before you close the pins.  This will take stress off the quilt.

This is really important:  Enlist all family member or guests that are hanging about to help you close the pins.  Thanks, honey.

After the center section is finished, shift the whole quit to the other side.  Binder clip the basted edges first, then smooth the layers and binder clip the backing again, and pin as before.  Repeat until all sides are basted.

Here comes the CAUTIONARY portion of this tutorial.  Do as I say, not as I do.

Do you notice anything strange about the bottom of this quilt?  Does it look like the backing will be long enough for top? 

I love being human.  I really do.  It is so funny sometimes.  As I'm preparing this whole thing to blog about, I have somehow miscalculated my backing and I'm short not just on the bottom, but the top as well.

JOY!  RAPTURE!  If I only had a brain.

This has given me such an interesting creative opportunity!  Hope you are having a fun week!