QUILTsocial Fall 2014 Issue | Page 35

There are several ways to baste the layers of the quilt sandwich together before you begin free motion quilting. Smooth out any wrinkles in the quilt sandwich and pin with safety pins. You could do this with straight pins, but moving them through the machine is a dangerous and painful plan. You could also spray baste with 505 Temporary Fabric Adhesive to baste the layers together, or use a fabric glue stick. I tend to pin larger quilts and use temporary adhesives on smaller projects. I like all the methods, but the safety pins might be my favourite because you have to stop to remove them now and then. It makes me a be a bit more careful when I am machine quilting a design. The wall art can be quilted in any method you choose. If you want to use your machine’s quilting foot, install it according to the directions and quilt in the ditch along the seam bands. I decided to use free-motion quilting. Free Mo gets a bad rap. It’s not that difficult, but it does take some practice, and some familiarity with the accessories that came with your machine. Once you get the hang of free mo, you’ll think it’s preemo. If you can drop the feed dogs on your machine, do that. If not, look for the darning plate that came with F