Smoothing Out as I Go and Basting My Quilt Top

As I begin to work on my quilt top, I like to start by smoothing out the fabric as I place my pins. I move around the entire top horizontal edge of the quilt, pinning it in place with a steady hand. Once I've completed this step, I'll go back and smooth out the rest of the fabric from the center outwards, working my way across the top of the quilt. This process helps ensure that my quilt will lie flat and even.

Next, I move on to basting the fabric in place. I take a stitch about an eighth of an inch or to a quarter of an inch into the quilt top from the top edge, bringing up the bobbin thread at the same time. This is where I use two threads: one blue for the top of the quilt and another pale pink for the backing. I bring my machine forward just enough to take these initial stitches before moving on to the next step.

I then continue stitching along the basting line, using a slow speed to allow myself some control over the movement of the machine. Since my machine doesn't have a stop on the back that will keep it going exactly horizontal, I rely on my hand to guide me and control the direction of the stitches. This takes practice, but with time and patience, I've gotten quite comfortable with this technique.

To achieve a smooth basting line, I aim for stitches that are about 1/4 inch apart. The key is to move quickly enough to create longer stitches without them becoming too tight, as this can cause puckering in the fabric. If I need to take my stitches out, it's much easier to do so when they're not too tightly secured.

Once I've completed basting along the entire length of the quilt top, I'll start working on the vertical lines that run down the two shorter sides. From there, I'll move on to stitching a line down the center of the quilt and then outwards in both directions. This will give me a solid foundation for my quilting.

As I work my way across the quilt, I like to take time to smooth out any areas where the fabric may be puckering or wrinkling. If needed, I'll make adjustments by taking my stitches out and repositioning the fabric as necessary. With each passing row, I continue to build on the previous stitch lines, creating a strong and even foundation for my quilt.

One additional note is that I don't use clamps on either side of my quilt. The frame that came with my machine has Velcro on one side, which allows me to clamp it in place securely. However, when I have extra fabric at the edges, I find that I can get by without them altogether. The clamps do take up space and sometimes hinder the movement of my machine, so I've learned to be more flexible with my setup.

A friend introduced me to an alternative option – a Bodkin clamp that's specifically designed for quilting. This smaller clamp is used in conjunction with elastic, allowing you to pinch your fabric at one end and slide it over to grip it securely. While this option does work well, I've found that I'm comfortable without it after months of using my machine.

In the end, what works best for me is to experiment and find what suits my needs. Whether I'm using clamps or not, taking the time to properly smooth out my fabric and achieve a strong foundation will make all the difference in the quality of my quilt.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennow before I turn my machine on I do want to take some pins and secure this outside edge so that when I start stitching there because I'm going to be stitching about an eighth of an inch or quart an inch away from this top Edge inside you want to keep that narrow because I don't want to take away from my Edge whether it be my border or my blocks I just want to use enough so that the Stitch line that I'm going to use here with my machine to base it will be encased or hidden inside The Binding once it's applied to the quilt and this is one reason I like to have my backing not too taut because if it's too taut then I won't be able to get my pins in but like this I can just push the fabric behind it because I do want this to be going through all three layers so when I'm stitching and basing along this Edge I can keep everything flat notice I started in the center or somewhere about there and going out in One Direction because I'm smoothing out as I go and as I place these pins and then I'll go back from the center out this way smoothing out as I place the pins I've pinned across the entire top horizontal Edge there and then also down vertically on the two shorter sides up until I reach that next roller and that's going to help help the layers stay in place till I get to the point of where I need to advance my quilt layers and continue quilting the next row to base down my top Edge I'm starting in the center and then I'm going to go out One Direction Come Back start again in the center and go out in the other direction first thing you want to do let me get my foot over the fabric here first thing you want to do is take one stitch so you can bring up the bobom threads okay I'm going to take a stitch about an eighth of an inch or or to a/4 of an inch into the quilt top from the top Edge okay I bring the needle up and now when I move my machine out of the way you can see I have a thread here that came up and that's my bobin thread now I have the blue here is the top and a really pale pink is my bobin and I have them both in my hand now I'm going to go right back in the same spot where I came in and I just I'm going to take two or three stitches there now I I have my machine here and I like to guide with my hand so that I can go smoothing as I go in case I didn't catch any of the puckering here with my pins I'm setting my machine to really kind of slow here and I'm just going to move and what I'm trying to do is move a little bit fast so that the basting line the stitches are a little bit longer you don't want them super tight in case you do have to take them off like just like if you're sewing or piecing you would take off your pins as you go and this part takes practice because my machine doesn't have any kind of a stop on the back that will keep it going exactly horizontal so you just have to control it with your hand so here's what my line my basting line kind of looks like and I'll just continue that the entire length of the way start back in the center and do it to the other direction all across the top once I get to the end I like to stitch off the end completely and then come back and do this vertical line down the side edge so I'm going to keep going here and I just come back and keep going straight up okay that's as far as my machine comes forward so I'm going to go up I'm bringing the thread with me okay pull it with my hand a little bit and I'm going to go right back in the same hole where it came out of lift it up again and now I've lifted up the bobin thread okay and now I'll just cut off my threads there okay now I need to do the other side I'd also like to mention that I don't clamp down the sides of my quilt you you can see I have them here I'll show you what they look like these are the ones that came with the machine or with the frame right it has a Velcro on this side that holds it in place and basically what you do is like these really hard clamps and you would clamp either your backing or whatever basically you could reach and then tug on it to help keep everything top but you can see that the way I rolled my stuff on here and even though I'm floating my quilt tops I don't really have a problem with this and when I give myself extra fabric I really don't need the clamps they actually if I was quilting really close by here say I didn't have as much excess backing as I have here if I was really close this actually really gets in the way of when I'm quilting and it won't allow you for the machine to get right up close to it because it bumps up against um the machine so that was one way that's what came with it then I'd seen from a friend of mine this other option which is a way smaller little clamp thing and it's called it's actually a a Bodkin it's used um with elastic and so you open it up and I would pinch the fabric here and then slide this up so that it grips it and then the same idea you pull it back this is a lot less cumbersome than using the big old clamps but after the months went by and I kept using my machine I realized I really just did fine without it so you don't always have to use everything that comes with your machine play around with it do some research online and you might decide like I did that you can do without itnow before I turn my machine on I do want to take some pins and secure this outside edge so that when I start stitching there because I'm going to be stitching about an eighth of an inch or quart an inch away from this top Edge inside you want to keep that narrow because I don't want to take away from my Edge whether it be my border or my blocks I just want to use enough so that the Stitch line that I'm going to use here with my machine to base it will be encased or hidden inside The Binding once it's applied to the quilt and this is one reason I like to have my backing not too taut because if it's too taut then I won't be able to get my pins in but like this I can just push the fabric behind it because I do want this to be going through all three layers so when I'm stitching and basing along this Edge I can keep everything flat notice I started in the center or somewhere about there and going out in One Direction because I'm smoothing out as I go and as I place these pins and then I'll go back from the center out this way smoothing out as I place the pins I've pinned across the entire top horizontal Edge there and then also down vertically on the two shorter sides up until I reach that next roller and that's going to help help the layers stay in place till I get to the point of where I need to advance my quilt layers and continue quilting the next row to base down my top Edge I'm starting in the center and then I'm going to go out One Direction Come Back start again in the center and go out in the other direction first thing you want to do let me get my foot over the fabric here first thing you want to do is take one stitch so you can bring up the bobom threads okay I'm going to take a stitch about an eighth of an inch or or to a/4 of an inch into the quilt top from the top Edge okay I bring the needle up and now when I move my machine out of the way you can see I have a thread here that came up and that's my bobin thread now I have the blue here is the top and a really pale pink is my bobin and I have them both in my hand now I'm going to go right back in the same spot where I came in and I just I'm going to take two or three stitches there now I I have my machine here and I like to guide with my hand so that I can go smoothing as I go in case I didn't catch any of the puckering here with my pins I'm setting my machine to really kind of slow here and I'm just going to move and what I'm trying to do is move a little bit fast so that the basting line the stitches are a little bit longer you don't want them super tight in case you do have to take them off like just like if you're sewing or piecing you would take off your pins as you go and this part takes practice because my machine doesn't have any kind of a stop on the back that will keep it going exactly horizontal so you just have to control it with your hand so here's what my line my basting line kind of looks like and I'll just continue that the entire length of the way start back in the center and do it to the other direction all across the top once I get to the end I like to stitch off the end completely and then come back and do this vertical line down the side edge so I'm going to keep going here and I just come back and keep going straight up okay that's as far as my machine comes forward so I'm going to go up I'm bringing the thread with me okay pull it with my hand a little bit and I'm going to go right back in the same hole where it came out of lift it up again and now I've lifted up the bobin thread okay and now I'll just cut off my threads there okay now I need to do the other side I'd also like to mention that I don't clamp down the sides of my quilt you you can see I have them here I'll show you what they look like these are the ones that came with the machine or with the frame right it has a Velcro on this side that holds it in place and basically what you do is like these really hard clamps and you would clamp either your backing or whatever basically you could reach and then tug on it to help keep everything top but you can see that the way I rolled my stuff on here and even though I'm floating my quilt tops I don't really have a problem with this and when I give myself extra fabric I really don't need the clamps they actually if I was quilting really close by here say I didn't have as much excess backing as I have here if I was really close this actually really gets in the way of when I'm quilting and it won't allow you for the machine to get right up close to it because it bumps up against um the machine so that was one way that's what came with it then I'd seen from a friend of mine this other option which is a way smaller little clamp thing and it's called it's actually a a Bodkin it's used um with elastic and so you open it up and I would pinch the fabric here and then slide this up so that it grips it and then the same idea you pull it back this is a lot less cumbersome than using the big old clamps but after the months went by and I kept using my machine I realized I really just did fine without it so you don't always have to use everything that comes with your machine play around with it do some research online and you might decide like I did that you can do without it\n"