Basting isn’t my favorite, in fact I think it’s my least favorite thing about quilting. It is probably why I have several quilt tops, and not several finished quilts. I think I may just save up so I can pay someone else to quilt for me.
But baste I must! I usually use safety pins. It’s easier to do that when you have a hard floor to baste on. The only place I have in this house is the kitchen. Housekeeper extraordinaire I’m not, so I never think the floor is clean enough. Even after I mop I don’t think it’s clean enough.
I have a Drtiz basting gun that I’ve used a handful of times. I’m sure you can get different sized tags to use, but the ones I have are just a little too long. I learned right away that it was easier to put both sides of the tags on top of the quilt, like this picture:
I put the tags near the seam because I feel like the needle makes a big hole in the fabric. Maybe that doesn’t matter once it’s quilted and washed, but I still do it that way.
You have to be careful when putting the needle in and pushing it back to the front, if the gap is too big then the fabric will bunch, like here:
The gun is really easy to use. It comes with a grid, if it doesn’t you definitely want one. I used the grid when basting this quilt because I laid it out on my table. The needle would ruin anything it poked and I love my table. Here is the grid under the quilt and the gun through the quilt.
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