this is how I load quilts up on my Gammill Longarm. I baste the entire quilt before I start quilting. please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.
I have been using your method of basting since I got my Innova longarm 2 years ago. It has saved me twice when I realized I loaded the backing the wrong way and once when my batting was too short! Thank for sharing this with us!
After seeing this video I tried it. Game changing. I feel so much more confident in my quilting! Absolutely huge difference for me. Thank you! I also like that I don’t have dog hair all over the bottom of the quilt!
Thank you so much for this video. I tried it and had great success. It was so nice to see up front that my quilt Was going to be all squared before I started quilting.
Hi! Thanks so much. I am a new longarm user. I will try this method! This is a great demonstration. I can see that this can help focus on the quilting.
Tia This is a VERY helpful video for me - I am on a hoop frame with a 15in Midarm machine. I use wool batting also and will try your method of hooping the backing, tack down batting and top, basing the floating batting and top. I love the serged edges !
I was taught to float, sometimes when I get to the end the bottom border is a mess 😵💫 I grew up in KC and got to see some great games in person at the stadium.
Thank you for this very helpful video. I am new to longarm quilting and I am finding I am not a fan of floating. I will be trying this technique on my next project.
This is how I baste also with the exception that I do to use the side clamps until the very last round. I love it! Love not having the quilt and batting on the floor as well as knowing what problems might lye ahead!
Hi Tia, Thank you so much for this video. I too baste my quilts using the Loading Lori's Way method. It's nice to have a better quality and more precise version of it. Great work by the camera person BTW! Your machine is very high, do your shoulders not hurt after a day of custom quilting? Thanks again!!!
I just came across you and I love this idea and I thought about basting because I think it would be much better. I do not have a big huge Gamel I have a grande PFAFF handy quilter I’m missing 2006. I just bought it in September and I’m just getting ready today hopefully to quilt my first quilt. I’ve loaded the backing and the top on the frame but putting on the batting and I’m not using for my first one. I’m using a polyester batting and I’ve already ripped it a little bit but I think I can do your method with my Inspira quilting frame I’m not sure.
Tried this-- I just got my long arm back after 4 months of trouble shooting, so, I am like a brand new quilter--I had to really smooth out some wrinkles where the basting lines were as I quilted but-- I have never had a quilt come off the long arm square--until now. thanks
What if it’s a fabric that doesn’t heal like Minky or t-shirt quilts? Would you still baste those? I was glad to see that the belly bar basting was far apart. I was thinking more like the basting you do for a sit down only a fist width apart. So that’s definitely encouraging! I have a king size quilt I’m getting ready to quilt. I’ll have to give this method a try. None of my quilts are remotely square though. My piecing leaves much to be desired, but what I lack with my piecing prowess, I make up for with my quilting 😅. Thanks for sharing this!!! Super helpful!
HI Anita! I do still baste Minky and Definitely T-shirt quilts. I assume you will quilt your king-sized quilt on a longarm, so basting this way will be great. If you are basting your quilt to then quilt on a domestic machine you will need to put your basting closer together for sure. If basting for a domestic machine you need your basting lines to be about bandwidth apart.
Hi Tia, loved the video. I noticed your quilt seemed much more loose and bouncy than my quilts are. Do you always keep them that loose or just as you baste? Thanks.
Hi. You made that look easy. I have tried this technique before, I had an on point that I didn't want to come out wonky. However, as I advanced the basted quilt down, it shifted enough that I had puckering along the belly bar baste. What is your advice, please, to prevent this from happening?
Hi Kay! I have done this with on-point quilts and I didn't have a problem with bunching or puckering. I make sure the backing is nice and smooth before basting....and the side clamps have to be used as well
Kay, my tops bunch up some at the dead bar as I baste down the quilt, but when I go back to the top to start quilting, they smooth back out very nicely. I’m sold on this method now.
Do you think this technique would work for someone who might take a few days-weeks to complete a quilt? Just wondering about the top wrinkling too much if it’s rolled up in one spot too long.
Thank you for your tutorial. Do you have any issues with larger quilts being so thick on the belly bar that they aren't level if you baste the whole thing?
@@TiaCurtisQuilts I just finished quilting my double wedding ring that was 114x102 using this method after watching your video. It is square, it is perfect, and I have honestly never had a better result. THANK YOU!
@@timmesawishart2448 that is such good news! I was taught to float my tops when I first started quilting, once I tried this technique there was no going back! I hope it continues to work for you!
I also do this and love the results! Also I don’t have to worry about issues at the bottom of the quilt-you know everything that’s going on with the quilt. My question is Do you do this with Batiks? I was told that needle holes never go away on batik fabrics …
I do! The quilt is going to be quilted all over and I typically do a medium density design when I do an e2e so the "holes' made from the basting stitches will be obscures and close up for sure on the first trip through the laundry. If the quilt will not be washed and closely inspected in a show or something there are techniques to remove those little punctures. I do not often quilt for show quilts (really only my own, and I don't care about the holes They will go away)
Hello Tia, im in training, im liking this pre basting, my quilt is 88 long so i have alot of batting; it didt't look like you had a boat load of batting on the ground at your feet.; what do i do with my batting , kick it under table or what? :0)
Yes! Just kick it under the table and as you baste the quilt the batting goes up on the roller bar. This was a REALLY big quilt so I had loads of batting, but I kick it under my table as I go. Just keep it nice and smooth as you go and everything will work out.
Tia, the quilt once basted then rolls up onto the belly bar or the lower front bar? BTW I was at a quilt class recently where the instructor sewed her entire quilt using a serger (no curves, just straight lines).
Hi! I have seen quilts that have been pieced with a serger before....I am not sure the pros to that technique. Seems like a colossal use of thread. So, After I baste the entire quilt I need to go back to the top to actually quilt it (removing the horizontal basting stitches as I get to them). I roll all the quilt back onto the backing bar, not the belly bar. The belly bar on my table is just there to keep tension on the quilt. I hope that helps
@@TiaCurtisQuilts It does! Yes I hear you on the serger for piecing...not sure I would want to learn how to be precise that way. The class was an improv piecing method.
OMG! Thank you so much for this video. Other instructors would say baste the quilt but never go into detail as to how to do it. It’s of no help for us beginners. Is your way of basting square the quilt or is it because the quilt already square? Some quilts I quilted have ruffles by the time I get to the end. I float my quilts. If I was going to do matchstick quilting, would your basting method be good for it. Thank you! Subscribe!
I basted my quilt and I find it’s great to make sure I’ve measured correctly in my batting and backing. How tight do you make your bars when you quilt. It’s looking very loose. Do you tighten it up before quilting? Thank you
@@scarlettdell2561 I keep my quilt loose enough that I can gather all 3 layers of the quilt when I jab a finger up from the back. Too tight = a warped quilt. Now....this also depends on your table. Gammill makes a great table with solid steel bars, other tables use different types of bars and you may need to actually have the quilt tighter.
@@TiaCurtisQuilts thank you. I’m new to longarming. I’ve had mine for a year. It’s a true learning curve. I have a babylock kinetic it’s a steel frame. I usually tighten it up so I can see just a bit of bounce. Am I doing that correctly. Also I need help in getting sew fine thread to work. Could I pay for s online class from you for that help. I can get Omni thread to work just fine.
I do this no matter what state the quilt is in (unless it it a fragile, vintage hand pieced top....but the it it's own ball of issues)it helps keep the quilt square even if it is not. If it is really wonky ( and that is actually fine) at least I know and can do my best work
Not sure what I am doing wrong. I basted, then rolled. My fabric was bunched up between the bar where I rolled and the belly bar baiste... It looked fair when I unrolled but now I'm afraid of it.
Yes, it can look bunchy after you have basted and rolled. But that is fine and long as it is smooth when it is unrolled. There is a bit of faith that goes into it, but it works out.
@@TiaCurtisQuilts Thank you! I basted all except the very end ... I tried to but I could not make it lay straight so I pinned the bottom. I have it ready to begin quilting tomorrow. any suggestions for the very bottom to make it lay smooth and stay straight?
@@MsSnuffy200 SOme quilts just won't lay flat. They are wavy until the bitter end. I would do my best to baste what I could. YOu can starch and press and see if that shrinks it up some. If worst comes to worst you can take a pleat and make it look like a seam where one might be. Good luck!
I was confused when I started watching because you said you stopped floating your quilts, partly because you were scared you would ruin them by stepping on them. My definition of floating, as a newbie, is that it is not attached to the belly bar(s) but "floats" off the top of one of the bars. But it seems that after you have basted it, the quilt is still just hanging over the front bar. So in my (perhaps incorrect) understand of "floating", it is still floating after it has all been basted. What is your definition of floating? And how does this basting technique help you not to step on the quilt?
