Good morning , I’m making a large bedspread, It is just for show, in a secondary vacation home, so it will not be used much, probably never need cleaning. My client wants it lightweight so I found a beautiful fabric that is already quilted in a 2″diamond pattern, a thin batting, and 120″dyed muslin for the bottom. It is very large. The top face fabric has some stretch side to side.I plan to serge all layers together around, blindstitch a 2″ hem.Is there a spray adhesive I could use? I’ve never used any before.And can it be used for each layer ? Is the smell offensive?The top layer is in 3 pieces, the batting and lining have no seams. I will take any sugestions.Thanks Susan
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I have used Sulky KK2000 spray adhesive with good results. It's been awhile, but I don't recall any odor, you do always want to spray in a well ventilated area away from children and pets. It only holds for a little while, not overnight so you would need to serge it right after applying it. I have only used it for small items so don't know if the weight of your project would work. When I make quilts, I use those quilters safety pins that have a bend in them and are smaller diameter so as not to make big holes. Hobby Lobby has them, also the Fons and Porter sections have them usually.
I used a "wrap" stitch with 30 wt. Sulky Blendables thread in the loopers, on the last quilt I made. The edge looked almost like piping but flatter, turned out lovely and no need to do a second edge hem or binding. Mary
I have used Sulky and 505.
505 has no odor and the spray does not "float" up, but drops down. It is the brand I prefer.
On very large projects, I prefer to do two or three lines of hand basting to hold the layers together, starting in the center. I loosely roll the outer edges inward so that I can reach.
The propellants in spray adhesives irritate my skin, eyes, and lungs, and on a large project, there'd probably be a lot of overspray; be sure to protect your floor with a canvas painter's dropcloth and protect yourself with a breathing mask and safety glasses. And of course test a set of small scraps first to make sure there is no bleed-through or staining!
I've never liked the spray adhesive. I tried in on a wall hanging once and I just saw that can in one of storage bins last night, I laughed because it's got to be at least 5 years old. giggle
I've used it to bond fabric together for sewing immediately, and it worked fine. The only trouble is the overspray, which covered the exposed areas of the floor in the sewing room. I couldn't find a household cleaner that was a solvent for the glue. (this was a painted wood floor, YMMV) I had tacky areas on the floor that "collected" dirt until the floor was refinished a couple years later.
Bummer!
I am a beginner and I have been reading and inhaling every bit about quilting I can. I use to make very easy little dresses for my daughter when she was little but that was 30 years ago. I can't drive and I can't find a beginner's class at night or Saturday so I am on my own.
The more I read the more confused I get. When it came to basting layers together it seemed there were two schools of thought - hand basting and bent safety pin basting - so I bought the safety pins (do some comparison shopping on the web, Fons and Porter are the red hot company, but their stuff is EXPENSIVE). If I hand basted I'd wouldn't be done for months. I have gotten to that step yet. I'm still dealing with learning how to use my machine and my rotary cutter. I am start with a supposedly easy pattern, a lap quilt, that requires 3 yards of fabric. That is really hard to work with on a 17 x 23 mat! More on that in another new discussion I'm going to start.
I went into "my" quilting store to get a slew of Baby Lock bobbins. Plastic, but not cheap! I said if I every started sewing again I would buy a zillion bobbins so I didn't have to wind multiple colors on a bobbin and then not know how long the thread would last or what was underneath! I have a hard time finding generic pieces for my Baby Lock and have to buy from a dealer.
While I was there I saw a gorgeous baby quilt, two sided, that looked easy. It didn't feel like there was any batting in it. I went looking around at all their quilts. The same thing. I asked the lady at the counter, and she was adamant that in the store the only thing they use is Warm and Natural batting, not Warm and White, because it is 100% cotton without chemicals, it never beards like polyester, your quilt is not fluffy like you would get with even low loft polyester batting, and she says they NEVER baste with anything but spray adhesive because they want no holes in the fabric except those made by stitching.
She said they only sell Warm and Natural, different widths, off the bolt - very expensive, but I bought a yard and half. Unfortunately I was out of my miscellaneous spending money and was too embarrassed to ask what kind of adhesive they used because I knew it would be expensive and I couldn't buy it. She didn't give me any warnings about the spray like it needs to be on a a covered surface and to wear old clothes and a protective mask outside away from my animals. She said the stuff washes out. If it washes out, then how come it wouldn't come off the floor, or off your clothes? I can understand the mask because it has to use come kind of propellant.
Oh, she also said they don't pre-wash the batting which I think is weird because it has up to 3% shrinkage. You have to hand wash and press it dry between towels if you pre-wash which I don't think I can physically do so I guess it won't get prewashed. I'll pray it doesn't shrink too much.
I think I am just going to call and ask.
Beth
PS - JoAnn's had a huge sale over Memorial Day weekend and their Warm and Natural, 90 inches wide!, $9.99 per yard, was on sale for 50% off, plus everything, regular or sale priced, was an additional 10% off. I shot my discretionary spending money for a whole month and bought 10 yards since I read that you can sew batting pieces together to make the size you want. That makes sense since they didn't have a fabric store down the street in years gone by.
Get a copy of Mark Lipinski's Quilter's Home. Not a whole lot of quilting going on, but it will help you to understand the thinking of "Quiltzillas".
I don't go to quilt shops that often because of their prices and the QZs. I know their fabric is better than at JoAnn, but I am not doing anything that will be entered in competition........remember where this all started - with whatever could be salvaged from old clothes.
If you do not preshrink the batting you will get a puckered effect of an old quilt, which some like - I do not, so you can guess what I would do with a batting that indicates it will shrink.
My Babylock takes size 15 bobbins, which you can get at Walmart. The package may say Singer - can't remember and I threw away the packaging.
I use 505 temp spray for machine embroidery and quilting, but I have to order it. Just ordered a 17 oz can from ShoppersRule @$12.95. There are other brands, but the 505 does not have any odor. JoAnn sells Sulky and maybe one other brand and you could use the 40% off coupon to save a few dollars.
I spray inside without any problems. The 505 mist drops and doesn't float in the air as some aerosols do.
JoAnn and Hobby Lobby carry Fons & Porter notions and you can use the store coupons for 40% off.
Thanks for the help with the bobbins. I just paid $7.99 for 10 of them at my quilt shop (the ones in the unmarked package), but I get a discount of 20% which helps. I'll take one to Walmart and see if it matches. I think mine are 15s. What model Baby Lock do you use?
I am going to go on what you say about the aerosal spray and stay away from the QZs (love that designation!). Couple of other questions:?
You say you spray inside, but do you spray on a tarp or some kind of drop cloth?
I tend to think more is better when I use a spray can. Is more better or less better with an adhesive like this?
Does the stuff wash out the first time you wash after finishing your quilt?
I saw on one site that you have to sew your smaller pieces of batting together if you have leftovers and need a bigger piece. That's why I bought so much when I could get it at 60% off. Do you have to hand sew the smaller batting pieces together when you are using spray adhesive or can you just spray glue the pieces together? I gather that by hand sewing the pieces of batting together they don't move around. I guess in the good old days they must have done some kind of whip stitch. What I saw when I read about this looked really complicated, because they were using different kinds of stitches. Some of them were like these big giant "Xs".
What do you think of polyester batting? Do you use it or do you use Warm and Natural or something else? What about Warm and White? Isn't it full of bleach that hasn't been completely rinsed out?
I definitely believe in pre-washing and drying everything. I want everything to have already shrunk and bled or whatever it is going to do before I get busy working with it. I know they say to hand wash the Warm and Natural, but I am going to put it my washer on delicate cold like I do my fabric so it doesn't get beat up spinning, and in the dryer on medium. I also cut off the big fray threads and press out any heavy wrinkling before I put the piece away in my stash box.
Thanks for your help!
Beth
With your 20% discount, the Walmart price may be very comparable.
I have the BL Ellegante, but also have an Elna. They both have top loading bobbins, which require class 15 plastic bobbins.
My work area is in the basement and I do put down a drop cloth to keep the backing clean and to catch any spray that I may go over the edge with.
If you prefer more ventilation - the garage would work and in my garage a drop cloth is definitely a prerequisite.
Follow the directions on the spray can - spray lightly. The thicker the spray the longer it will take set and it does not improve the tack. It does wash out easily.
If you have to piece your batting, lightly hand stitch a large zig-zag stitch to hold it together as a safety precaution against slipping.
I use whatever batting is on sale and for small projects have even used fusible. I do not hand quilt, so the cotton batting is not that important to me - usually whatever is on sale....but not the cheap no brand name batting.
I do not have any Warm batting on hand, but do have a package of Hobbs cotton batting, which also indicates 3% shrinkage. To preshrink, the information on the package indicates -
"Fill the washer with tepid water - no detergent. Open the batting and gently immerse in water. Shut washer off and soak for 5 - 10 minutes. DO NOT AGITATE. Spin the remove excess water. Dry batting on air of fluff cycle. Remove immediately."
One time I did the preshrink without benefit of this information and it was a disaster.
Best wishes.
I live in the South and we don't have basements that I know of. Too bad, extra room cheap. I do have a walk in "crawl space" because I am on a hill, but it is 100% dirt, like Little House on the Prairie. I can actually walk upright almost to the middle of the house. Maybe someday another person will need more room and see the potential down there.
A garage - that is a place where you put a car right? Well we tried putting our small SUV in there once when we first moved in, but you could only open the doors on one side of the car. We were actually planning on using it as a project room since it is pretty warm here in winter and the walls are insulated and dry walled according to fire code on the two sides that are against the interior of the house.
The only problem is that my daughter's friend needed to leave all of her stuff with us for a couple of months while she went to take care of her very ill, pregnant little sister whose hubby was in Iraq. Somehow they always manage to get pregnant when he is on R&R. They have toddler too. This was his second deployment. That was a 1-1/2 years ago. We have no clue when she is going to come get her stuff. She has become their live in nanny and housekeeper.
OK, I'm lonely today and chatty! You probably have better things to do. I will get a drop cloth and find a room without too much activity to do my spraying. My daughter and I have a 5 bedroom, 3 bath house for us, 7 cats, and 1 dog. Somewhere I should be able to find a spot. I pray that next time God tells us to move somewhere that the accrued equity when we sell will buy a smaller space. I'm disabled so it is a lot for my daughter to keep up, but she swears she doesn't mind.
What did I say about being chatty?
In making the zig zag stitch, is it just a long stitch up and long stitch down, etc.? I assume you take it out as you get to it as you are quilting? I am so full of questions. I need to get off the boards and go do.
Off to read my F&P book, and hide Alex's book!
Beth
Just leave the basting in the batting - no need to remove it.
Beth-- Was just reading your post about your batting and basting questions. I'm a professional quilter, which means that I machine quilt for people who either can't or don't want to quilt their finished tops. Oh, and I do it on a regular sized sewing machine mounted in a treadle base, no electricity. No special equipment is needed to successfully quilt! I use large basting pins and I've NEVER had them leave a permanent hole in the fabric. In fact, as I remove the pins and manipulate the quilt, the holes just close right back up like they were never there. If you do pin-baste, remember that you will want to have a pin every 4" and you need to find a way to keep all the layers at an even tension. I clamp the bottom layer (backing) to a table, then smooth the batting and top layer over it. I'm careful not to stretch the backing, just smooth it into place. I personally don't trust basting sprays. I have nowhere in my house that I can safely use them in the winter and I'm just too sensitive to the solvents and propellants in them. I also have doubts about the long-term effects of them in a quilt. You can also hand-baste. About batting. I use Warm and Natural 100% cotton and I don't usually pre-shrink it. If you don't prewash it, the shrinkage will sort of poof up the quilt after it's washed. If you do want to preshrink the batting it's easy to do. I soak it in hot water in my washer, spin it out, then dry it in the dryer. I keep a close eye on it in the dryer, because I don't really want to tumble it more than needed to get it dry. Nothing too complicated about the process. May I make a suggestion for you as a beginning quilter? Start small, REALLY small. For your first project make placemats. All you need is a 12" block, plus a 3" border at each end. You can make them all alike or try several different block patterns in the same color scheme. This way, if something doesn't quite work out the way you expected, you haven't ruined a whole quilt, just one placemat.
I do the same as Annie and pin baste. I have never had a problem either with the pins leaving holes. I clamp the backing to my table with those large paper clamps and some woodworker clamps, add the batting and then the top. I mark the center of each piece so that I end up with everything in the correct place. Learned to do that the hard way. I end up with all three layers clamped to the table. I then pin baste from the center outward. Since most of my quilts are larger than my 4x8 table, I have to move it, after pinning, to get the entire quilt. I carefully reclamp after each time I move the quilt.
I recently tried machine basting with washable basting thread, after I had done the pin basting, just to see how it would work. I am not sure what I think of that yet. Have to try it again. Has anyone else used the washable basting thread? I will say that it does wash out really easily and does hold as a basting thread. I have since used it in garment sewing.
Walmart has or had the best price for basting pins. I found a few that I had to throw away, but the price difference between Walmart and JoAnns made it worth it.
You might be trying to "overthink" this thing, Sister Beth.
Start small, with a traditional pattern, such as, "Nine Patch" or "Log Cabin", or even something really simple in a "Four Patch"! These patterns can be found in any old basic quilting book. OR You can just work it out for yourself on graph paper with coloured pencils.
Cut your patterns from sand paper.
Buy 3 yards of a 100% cotton solid colour that you really like, and start polking arround in your cotton scraps from baby clothes and left over projects for the rest of the fabric. You won't need as much or as many different pieces as you may think.
After your top is finished and you have some idea of the size you will need.......
Buy a nice cotton batting and a good cotton backing. Make a "quilt sandwich", baste it lightly by hand. I've used both a quilting hoop and an enoromous quilting frame, with equally good results. Start quilting by outline stitching a few blocks, as you gain experience you will naturally want to grow into more complex quilting designs.
Trust your instincts. You'll be surprized at how beautiful your results will be!
Remember this is your FIRST quilt............Soon, and very soon, you will have enough quilt plans to last a lifetime.
I fully expect notebooks, boxes, and bags will be given out to folks on the day of my funeral. I can hear my daughter saying" "Mama loved you and here is the quilt she planned to make just for you......................"
As 'I fly away". Gail
Edited 6/15/2008 10:09 am ET by GailAnn
Edited 6/15/2008 10:15 am ET by GailAnn
It's easy to get confused when you're starting out. It seems that every "expert" has a different opinion!
There are many ways to get to the same place in quilting, you just have to experiment and find the way that suits you best. I used to watch Georgia Bonesteel on PBS many years ago, and made my first quilt using her "lapquilting" method, where the blocks are quilted separately in a hoop in your lap, and then joined together to make a larger quilt. That's one way to do it, but I was frustrated at all the hand sewing it required, and the blocks didn't fit together nicely. I didn't make another quilt for about 15 years! My next quilt was machine pieced and machine quilted all in one piece--this works better for me.
You have received a lot of good responses so far. Here's what I do:~ Basting - I've never used spray adhesive; I usually just pin the layers together, but sometimes I hand-baste with long stitches if it's a large quilt (I don't have that many safety pins!) I've never had problems with permanent holes from the pins. I did use fusible batting once, but didn't really like the result.~ Batting - What I use depends on the quilt and how I want it to feel. For Project Linus quilts I use good quality polyester (the cheapo brands often have very thin spots), for others I like Warm & Natural, Warm & White, or Hobbs Premium. You can sew pieces together with a hand or machine zig-zag stitch.~ Prewashing - I always prewash fabric, but not necessarily the batting. Again, it depends on what I want the quilt to look and feel like.
There are a few beginner quilting classes offered at local quilt shops. I don't know if these will fit your schedule, but check the calendar of Quilts Like Crazy or Sew Unique. There are probably others, but these are two that immediately come to mind.
Quilting is fun, so don't stress too much about it. I know you want to do things the right way, but sometimes there is more than one right way. And the Quilt Police aren't going to show up at your door. :-) Start with small projects and learn something new or different with each one. You'll soon find what you like and works best for you.
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