Basting. It's my least favorite part of the quilting process. Consequently, I tend to gravitate toward the method that is the quickest--spray basting. Since I've never found a way to control the fumes and the mess, I spray baste outside. Unfortunately, that leaves me at the mercy of the weather. Ever try to find a day in spring with no wind?
Enter pin basting, my second choice. Actually, it is a pretty good basting method too. Not as fast as spray basting, especially if the quilt is large, unlike the featured baby quilt, but faster than thread basting. No fumes. No waiting for the weather to cooperate. So what's not to like?
I discovered when pin basting this baby quilt, what I don't like is the look. Yep, like a teenager with too many piercings. I can't see the beautiful kid, because I'm staring at the 5 silver rings protruding from his lip. (I'm not against piercing per se, but like anything, it can be overdone.) 
You're probably thinking that's weird. After all, in quilting, the pins do eventually come out. Very true. However, so much of my enjoyment of quilting is the texture and color of the fabrics, and how they play together in the quilt design. Somehow with my quilt full of pins, all I can see is the darn pins!
I have two big problems with pin basting: it takes too much time -- I can never finish basting even a small quilt in one go; I hate quilting around pins. I'm not good enough at quilting to handle all those pins. So far as I'm concerned, spray basting is the way to go.
ReplyDeleteThe quilt is too cute! It's going to be awesome when it's done.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about pin basting that way before. I try not to think about it at all. I like it about as much as you do.
Basting! Yuck, I don't think anyone enjoys that part of the process.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid to spray baste just about anything bigger than a tablerunner, so it's usually pin basting for me. Yes I hate it. But I love removing those pins as I quilt.
However, now that my Mom has a Handiquilter, I see that a new favorite, no basting method might be in my future. I just need large amounts of uninterrupted quilting time.
I pin baste on our kitchen table, so I also have to work around meal times. ;) Pin basting does distract from the look of the quilt, and it also makes a quilt sandwich *heavy*, but it's pretty easy to do, and the pins come out quickly as I get to them during the quilting. It's my preferred method of basting, though I've also played around with thread basting.
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