Sewing 101, Tutorials, Uncategorized

Sewing Back-to-School: Spray Basting

This post is part of the Sewing Back-to-School series, 30 days of helpful sewing articles by guest bloggers. Feel free to check out the original Sewing Back-to-School post for schedule and previous posts!





Krista from Poppy Print creates some amazing things, my favorite of which is this QR Code Quilt. You can make a QR Quilt of your own! Stop on over at her blog to see some more amazing creations and tutorials!

 

Hi Sew Sweetness peeps! Thanks for inviting me to go back to school Sara! My pencil crayons are sharpity-sharp, my new outfit is all laid out and I’m so excited to share this little lesson with you today.
I pin-basted my first quilt 10 years ago. Then about six months later, I pinned another one. I think it took me three years to cross over to the SPRAY side and I’ve never looked back. Why? Because it’s super fast, there is no blood involved, my dining room table doesn’t get scratched, my back doesn’t go into spasm, and the adhesive is gone after the first wash. Pretty good reasons.
Spray Baste Tutorial by Poppyprint
I’ve written a tutorial for you that is all laid out in a series of photographs in this Flickr set. Each photo has a description that details the steps of preparing and basting your quilt. You can spray baste a quilt of any size. I even baste potholders and rug mugs this way. The temporary adhesive holds so well – there is never any shifting of the three layers. Say good bye to puckers and pulls on your quilts! NOTE: Spray basting works best with cotton, or cotton blend batting, or a dense, low-loft poly batting. It does not work well with high-loft spun polyester batting – imagine that the surface of that stuff is mostly air and filaments. Therefore, there’s nothing for the glue to really settle on.
My temporary adhesive of choice is 505, which is a bit pricey (it is made in France, after all), but totally worth it. The odour is minimal compared to cheaper brands (but you still need to open a window, people) and it always sprays out evenly, never in wet blotches or drips. If you use my method of ONLY SPRAYING BATTING, NEVER YOUR FABRIC then you’ll never have to worry about saturating your quilt. Once the adhesive is dry, there is no odour. I’ve sprayed and folded a quilt and left it without quilting for over 6 months (ahem) and it’s still good to go!
Spray basting tute by Poppyprint
While the environmental benefits of pinning or hand-basting far exceed using spray, I live my life thoughtfully and have come to terms with using two aerosol spray cans per year. Spray basting relieves my (arthritic) fingers of pins and secures the layers so well that I can quilt on my domestic machine without worry of a puckered mess on the back.
As always, feel free to contact me with any questions!

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12 thoughts on “Sewing Back-to-School: Spray Basting

  1. suemac says:

    That is a very nice tutorial. I am going to have to try it. My back kills me after pin basting.

  2. Thanks Krista – I love a good spraying x

  3. Great idea with the Flickr tutorial. I’m going to bookmark this!

  4. jednoiglec says:

    Krista, your tutorial is great! I have never spray basted my works, because it’s hard to get such spray in Poland (and my quilting is terrible!). But your advices convinced me that I should get some from US and maybe, just maybe;) my works will look better:)

  5. This is awesome! I have been afraid of spray basting, but I think I’m sold. The Flickr tute is great.

  6. WandaFish says:

    Great tute, thanks Krista!

    Hehe, I was all fired up to try the Amy Butler Blossom bag after reading Sara’s review – but then I was nosing round and saw yours!! Beautiful bags but I think I need something slightly more basic 🙂

  7. Lynne says:

    I met someone last week in my quilting group who bastes with bull dog clips on a portable trestle table – no blood, no overspray and tight as a drum!

  8. myredbike says:

    I’ve never tried it yet, Krista, but you make a compelling argument!

  9. Excellent and informative tute Krista! The Flickr format is neat and tidy, isn’t it?

  10. Colleen says:

    I just had a total mess with spray basting instead of pinning! This works OK for small projects but does not work very well with a full size quilt….just MHO 🙂

  11. woohoo me too! Great tutorial

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