Hand basting versus safety pins
Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 7:43AM My mom sent me birthday money (no matter how old I am birthday money is always appreciated!!) and I purchased a subscription to the Sharon Schamber Network. I'm trying out Sharon's method of hand basting a quilt. I have not always had perfect success basting with safety pins; mostly pleats in the backing fabric and the holes remain where the safety pins were holding the layers together.
This is not a large quilt so this is not a total test of her method. My test project is only 24"x24". Being that I batiked the fabric, it is a little stiff from the wax. I startched the backing fabric several times so that front and back would be of similar weight and stiffness. Black basting thread "should" help me remember to remove the basting before quilting an area.
basting a quilt
Reader Comments (1)
Suzan, I love Sharon Schamber's methods for almost everything she does. Sharon's teaching has improved my quilting enormously. Her basting method is similar to "pad stitching" used in skillfully tailored garments, and that's probably where she got this idea from since she, like myself, started her career as a fashion designer/sewer. You can use that pad stitching to "shape" garments with...particularly around the lapels and over the shoulders. It's pretty remarkable. You don't take it out when you complete the garment, so it isn't basting there. I used her basting method on several quilts now, and found I often forget to remove the thread soon enough and my sewing machine foot gets caught in the thread. On the whole, however, it's a good method. Have you watched her looong lesson on the Fairie yet? It's wonderful. I'm using many of her methods she teaches in that for my mermaid quilt. Cheers, BJ