Spray basted quilt

[Lynne in Iowa]

I'm about to put the first quilt that hasn't been my own on the frame.  It is for a good friend, she is a very precise piecer and has had another person do the quilting on her larger quilts at a sit down machine.  She wanted to drop it off for me to work on while she is on vacation and I was out of town and had her leave it for me.  I had told her to make sure the back was at least 6 inches bigger all around.

 

I took it out of the bag today and found she had spray basted the sandwich together with exactly 8 inches of extra backing on each side.  It is perfectly centered, it must have taken her several hours to get it just so.  Unfortunately it is not coming apart.  Lesson # 1 when quilting for others, tell them they don't have to put the quilt sandwich together.

 

So my question is - can I roll the whole quilt on the backer bar?  I normally float tops, but I don't think I can float the whole thing can I?  Any advice?

 

She comes back from vacation on Monday and I really want it done because it is a surprise for her daughter's anniversary in a couple of weeks and her daughter has had a rough year.

[GMALKB]

Can you steam the sandwich a little to loosen the spray basting?     I've done that before on a small project.  A friend tried to quilt through all that on a quilt one time and it just gummed up her needle.   

[ffq-lar]

If you can get the backer off the batting side, you can float the top with the top and batting pieces still stuck together. That is, if it all flat and nice. Good luck!

I've been told that the spray baste goes away with the first laundering. You could try immersing completely and then if the pieces come apart, rinsing well. That will give you another set of problems, especially if there any dye transfer or stretching during the process. Again---good luck!

[sewingpup]

OK...no expert here......my thoughts however would be to leave it as it is as it seems really stuck together...wonder what she used.....anyway...I would full float it....but be careful not to put any tension on it as you roll up quilt unto the rollers....the layers are already lying flat...and the process of rolling them may put wrinkles in it if a lot of tension is applied as one layer is going to be wrapped around a smaller diameter..if that makes sense...you won't want the layers to come unstuck in some places and not others I would think....I have thought it might be similar to quilting a quilt that has been tied....has anyone tried doing that....I was think about trying that for a friend who has a tied quilt....or has anyone frogged a large section of a fully quilted quilt and then re-quilted it...ummm....maybe you have some muslin and batting you could spray baste together and give it a try?....or maybe just try spraying with water to see if the spray baste loosens?  How big is the quilt?  just my meandering thoughts here....no real experience....I am a newbie....Good Luck...Lin

[cmkeindl1]

Ask her?  If you are set on going ahead with it and floating - it might work "o.k." if you have a larger sweeping (circular, swirly, or meandering) pattern to do so you can use your left hand (if you are right-handed) to help coax any extra fabric bubbles in?  If she wants custom, I say wait and find out what she used and talk to her, you are only asking for troubles as the natural "sucking up" of the quilt and the air bubbles or stuck sections try to compete?  (not very technical terms obviously!) GOOD LUCK and let us know what happens!