Making a quilt sandwich is similar to building a sandwich in the kitchen. A top and bottom additional layers in between held together with condiments. In our case, the "condiments" will be adhesive spray and/or safety pins.
Clean off a cutting table or floor so you can spread the quilt out right side down. This step is like laying your bottom piece of bread down to get ready to build your sandwich. I like to fold my backing in half lengthwise and then crosswise to make a point and find the center. Mark through one layer of fabric with a safety pin. I also like to use painter's tape with arrows drawn on it to show my length and width. (This is handy when layering a large quilt such as a king in my sample but not as pertinent with a baby size)
Then spread your backing out RIGHT SIDE DOWN and if on a table, secure with binder clips (find them at your local office supply store) or if on the floor (ouch my knees and back) secure with painter's tape around the edges.
Repeat the folding process with the batting and quilt top to find the center. Our batting is the next layer in our QUILT SANDWICH! I like to use adhesive spray to keep my layers nice and smooth. Typically I use what I can get at my local craft store using my iphone coupons! Match up your batting center with your backing center, making sure your width and length are both going the same directions! Remove the pin and tape from the backing layer and spray with a little adhesive spray and begin smoothing from the center to the edges. Take the binder clips off and reattach them including the batting or tape the batting layer to the floor.
Repeat this process with the quilt top (the final top piece to our QUILT SANDWICH-again, I didn't have pictures of the baby quilt in this process, so this is a different quilt!) Remember to spray lightly with the adhesive spray, smooth to edges beginning at center and then re-clip or tape.
Now the FUN part....safety pins
I like to use curved basting pins and willingly pay the extra for them. They save the fingernails and fingers when trying to close them with the quilt sandwich layers firmly secured to either the floor or table.
They come in a variety of sizes and can be purchased at most craft/fabric stores and online. There is even a handy tool to save the fingers if you so desire!
This part of the process is time consuming but most necessary to have smooth quilt layers. Beginning in the center of the quilt, pin safety pins through all the layers, smoothing and pinning your way to the edge. Pin every 4-6 " until the entire quilt sandwich is full of pins, securing the layers together (much like your toothpick with the colored cellophane in your deli sandwich).
When you are completely finished pinning, you may remove the binder clips or tape and you are ready to quilt the layers together. (*another note on my picture---I had pre-quilted my blocks, thus the stitching--yours will be plain)
Be careful pinning! Watch those fingers!
My favorite sandwich is a BLT and a quilt sandwich....what about you?
Pin away!
Renee
P.S.All tutorials, information and images are the property of Renee Galloway at Ney Ney's Nest and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin, share with attribution to Ney Ney's Nest. For all other purposes, please contact me at reneegalloway@me.com. Thanks!
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