Sister Quilts – My Basting Experiment

Last year, my regular job got pretty crazy, but I was very blessed to have a couple of aides. They were both wonderful ladies who helped me out so much! I decided to make a quilt for each of them at the end of the year. I made them very alike in appearance. Not exactly twins but definitely sisters.

I used “Warm and Plush” for the batting. It’s a 100% cotton batting without scrim. It’s higher loft than most cotton batting, and it’s makes for a nice cozy quilt with a little extra puff. I’ve used it before and completely disregarded one of the recommendations on the packaging, the one that says you shouldn’t use spray baste. It says that this is because repositioning will pull the cotton apart. This is probably because there isn’t any scrim in this batting. I’ve actually spray basted while using this batting before in this quilt. At the time, I probably didn’t bother to read those instructions, but I didn’t have any issues. I was really pleased with how that quilt turned out.

Even though it turned out great the first time, I decided to try a little semi-scientific experiment to see if you really have to pin baste to get the best results when using batting that doesn’t have a layer of scrim. I tested this using stick glue for basting instead of spray basting. I assumed all adhesive basting methods would have similar issues with no-scrim batting. (I did say this was semi-scientific). So, for one quilt, I basted using stick glue, and for the other one I pin basted.

I’m going to use the scientific method to walk you through my little basting experiment. A simple google search will bring up several variations of the scientific method. I had to pick one, but they are all the same basic process.

Scientific Method
1) Defining the Problem
2) Making Observations
3) Forming a Hypothesis
4) Conducting an Experiment
5) Drawing Conclusions

Here’s the specifics of how I followed the scientific method for testing the basting methods with no-scrim batting. Hopefully my high school science teachers would approve.

Defining the Problem

The problem in this case is that the batting I wanted to use recommends against adhesive basting. This in and of itself is not a problem. So what is the problem? The problem is that I don’t really like pin basting. It takes too long. For quilters who have to baste on the floor, this is an even bigger problem. Pin basting on the floor would be a LOT of time on your knees compared to quicker methods that use adhesive. So if you’re not a pin baster, using a batting that absolutely must be pin basted would be a problem. I have a post on basting here if you want to check it out. I actually used Warm and Plush for the quilt I basted with stick glue in that post.

Making Observations

I made the observation that I’ve actually used Warm and Plush batting in multiple quilts, and have always used adhesive basting. Some of them were basted with 505 Spray and some of them were basted with the purple Elmer’s Washable Stick Glue. I feel like I got good results in all of those. You can check some of them out if you want to:

The star quilt that I mentioned earlier in this post – this was the first quilt I made with Warm and Plush batting
The baby blanket in my basting post mentioned above
This cover quilt for my Dublin Fancy Quilt pattern and my “Sound Waves Baby Quilt” that I made from the bonus pattern included with my “Dublin Fancy” pattern
This Lulu Louise Quilt that I made using Southern Charm Quilts’ pattern (part of her book “A Life With Quilts” available at Meander + Make. Use the coupon code SNUGGLEBUGSTITCHING for 10% off.)

I’m sure there are others, but you get the idea. I’ve done lots of those and got good results every time.

Forming a Hypothesis

After getting pretty results with Warm and Plush multiple times despite disregarding the recommendations, I formed this hypothesis:
If you don’t like pin basting, any benefits of pin basting with no scrim batting are probably not worth the extra time. The results will be identical enough so as to not justify the extra time spent pin basting.

I should say that if you ARE a pin baster, we can still be friends. Basting is about getting holding your quilt layers together to avoid folds, tucks, and puckers. So, every quilter should do what gives them the best results. If your finished quilt lacks folds, tucks, and puckers, then you did a good job basting, no matter which method you used.

Conducting an Experiment

It’s been a while since I had science in high school. I can actually measure that time in decades, I just won’t tell you how many… For other quilters who have a lot of time in between now and high school science, I’m going to throw in a few definitions here.

Independent Variable – this is what scientists change in an experiment. There should only be one of these because otherwise you won’t know which variable caused the final results.
Dependent Variables – these are the things that change as a result of your tests
Constants – the conditions that remain the same in the experiment
Controls – this is the group that remains under “normal conditions”

Let’s start with the constants in my experiment. These are the things that are the same in both quilts:

1) Top Fabric – I used two layer cakes for these quilts. One was “Hidden Cottage” by Minki Kim for Riley Blake Designs. The other was “Carmel Macchiato” by Wilmington Prints. Each layer cake was divided evenly between the two quilts.
2) Warm and Plush batting used in both quilts
3) Backing Fabric – white flannel from the same bolt
4) Quilting – shiny pink thread from the same spool and loops quilting used on both. It’s worth noting that I tried to keep the quilting amount as well as size and shape of the loops as consistent as possible between the two quilts. Free motion quilting on a domestic machine makes it impossible to keep this completely identical. It would have been much more likely to keep them identical had I used a computerized longarm. BUT, why would you need to baste if you have a longarm? Comparing basting techniques prior to using a machine that doesn’t require basting would be a pointless experiment.

Which Quilt is the Control?

I’m calling the one that I pin basted the control. The control group is supposed to be under “normal conditions”. My “normal conditions” are technically to disregard the recommendations and use adhesive bastings anyway. However, I figured following the manufacturer’s recommendations actually should be the most “normal conditions”, so I’m going to go with that. The quilt that I basted with stick glue is the experimental one is this case. My high school science teachers might call me out a little on this one, but for this experiment, those labels don’t really make any difference in what I’m going to evaluate in the end.

Dependent Variables

What could possibly change as a result of my test?

1) Will the fabric shift more while I’m quilting?
2) Will I find one method easier to work with than the other?
3) Most importantly, how will this affect the look of my quilt? Will there be any accidental folds, tucks, or puckers in my finished quilt?

These are some of the things I anticipated to come up during my test, but I suppose there’s always the possibility of running into unexpected variables.

Independent Variables

This is basically what I’m testing here, using adhesive basting with the no-scrim batting. Does the quilt I made in disregard of the batting manufacturer’s recommendations look as good as the one where I minded and pin basted?

So, technically I have two independent variables in this one. This is actually a scientific method “no no”. I didn’t make the binding exactly the same. I used the same binding technique and the same decorative stitch on both bindings, but one is scrappy and the other is not. I feel like my high school science teachers would take issue with there being two independent variables… But, I’m going to pull rank here and say that I know more about quilting than they do. With that rank, I’m going to go ahead and say that this doesn’t matter in this experiment. The real thing I’m testing is the results of the quilting, and this is already finished before the binding goes on.

If any of my high school science teachers happen to be reading this, I apologize for placing my quilting experience above the scientific method for this post. All my high school science teachers were GREAT teachers, so if any of you are reading this, I’d love to hear from you. If you happen to be a quilter too, I always like to chat with fellow quilters.

Drawing Conclusions

This is the part where you finally get to see some pictures of the finished quilts.

Side by side comparison of the two quilts in my experiment

Can you tell which one I pin basted and which one I glue basted? You can certainly scroll up to the picture where I had one of them pin basted and use the print placement for reference to figure it out. If you didn’t do that, can you tell? I can’t. I remembered which one I used scrappy binding on, otherwise I wouldn’t know without checking the pin basting picture.

What I found when quilting these two:

The one I pin basted did actually cooperate a little bit better for me during quilting. The one I glue basted felt like it was shifting a little in comparison to the one I pin basted. I didn’t notice this shifting feeling in any of the other quilts where I used adhesive basting with Warm and Plush, but it could have been that I just didn’t notice it due to a lack of anything to compare it to. Who’s knows though, since I didn’t make a sister for any of those others. I wonder if this “shifting” feeling was actually some of the cotton pulling away with the top of the quilt as I free motion quilted.

Despite the slight shifting feeling in the one I glue basted, this did not affect the look of the final quilt. There wasn’t a fold, tuck, or pucker to be seen in either quilt. You can check out a close up of some of the quilting in the side by side binding shots below.

The pin basting definitely takes longer, so that was a factor for me. I may be able to speed this up with practice, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to do it as quick as I can glue or spray. I don’t do it that often, so my finger tips haven’t become immune to the effect of pin basting yet. I wasn’t a fan of having sore finger tips that day. There was a lot of having to stop and start with my quilting while I took the pins out; I found myself to be annoyed by this.

My Conclusions

Remember when I said this was a “semi” scientific experiment? Well, I am definitely a little biased to my basting method and prefer to use adhesive basting. I don’t have a specific preference for glue or spray though and flip back and forth between the two as it suits me. I should probably do this experiment again with spray basting. I tried to take into account all factors and be open minded.

Since the two methods gave identical results, I have to weigh the pros and cons for each. For me, the slightly better cooperation from the quilt I pin basted did not justify the extra time I had to spend basting. It also took longer to quilt because I was having to stop more often to remove the pins. AND my finger got sore from the pin basting. Stick glue for the win!