baste on LA? to be hand quilted

[wifemomquilter]

is it possible to baste the \'sandwich\' together on my LA? this quilt is to be hand quilted by ladies from my church guild. the thought of hand basting and crawling on the floor isn\'t too exciting! any suggestions are appreciated.

Carmen

[Bonnie]

Yes it is.....you can use a pretty long stitch so they can pull them out with ease, and I would make the rows not wider than 8-10 inches.

I had one lady who wanted not only horizontal rows but vertical as well.....I just flipped the quilt and did it again....

[DawnCavanaugh]

Carmen,

Here are a couple more suggestions to add to Bonnie\'s:

[*] if the quilt will be hand quilted, you can use the needle up/down button to place "tacking" stitches across the surface of the quilt about 3-4 inches apart. Drag your thread from one location to the next.

(This can be a tedious process, so to speed it up, use the manual mode and turn the motor speed down to very slow. Instead of using the needle up/down function, use the "on" button and turn the machine on briefly, then right back off again. This allows you to put 3-4 stitches in place and then drag the machine to the next location.)

Some hand quilters prefer this method as opposed to a running baste, because they want to release the basting easily as they move the hoop from the center of the quilt out. This method closely mimics the way someone would hand-baste the quilt layers together.

It also eliminates the need to go "horizontally" and "vertically" since the tacks are spread evenly over the quilt.

[*] Loosen your tension quite a bit, with either the tacking stitches or running baste. This makes it easier for the quilter to remove the basting stitches.

[*] If you are doing the running baste as Bonnie suggests, one way to avoid having to turn the quilt is to do the basting stitch similar to the top of a castle turret--right 3-4 inches, up 3-4 inches, down 3-4 inches, right....all the way across the quilt. Cut your thread and return to the starting point and repeat. The "top" of the second castle turret bump will fill the "bottom" of the previous row\'s, creating a grid effect.

[*] To do the running baste with the machine, set it to manual mode, and a low-medium speed. Move quickly, creating long stitches (just don\'t move so fast as to break the needle:)). With a little practice in your motions and motor speed adjustments, you can get the stitches from 1/4" to 1/2" long.

You shouldn\'t have any problems. Good Luck!

[Bonnie]

Thanks Dawn...I like your way with the castle and turrets better than what I have doing, I hate having to turn a quilt.

[BethDurand]

I\'ve basted my own quilts for handquilting on my LA. I slow down the speed, put her in manual mode, and do a honking huge loopy meander. Works great, nothing shifts while I\'m hand quilting it, and because it\'s such big stitches, it\'s easy to take out when I\'m through.

Beth

[Hollyrw]

I\'ve basted a couple of my own quilts on the LA using water soluble thread, a long stitch and a large meander. Works great.

[SandraC]

I do the castle technique and it works well!

[wifemomquilter]

thanks everybody for all your advice. this sounds very easy!!

Carmen