If you've been following along with the Brave Beginner Quilt Course, Kelly has officially pieced her whole top together. Big milestone. Now it's time for the part nobody talks about enough: basting.
There are a dozen ways to baste a quilt, and we're not going to pretend otherwise. But this video isn't an "everything you could possibly do" guide. It's the one method we lean on every single time here in the studio, the one that's earned its spot after ten years of quilting. Keep it simple, get it finished, move on to the fun part.
Picking your batting
Before you even get to basting, you've got a batting decision to make, and it really comes down to two questions: what's the quilt for, and where do you live?
Cold climate, want something warm and snuggly? A high loft cotton, or even a doubled layer, does the trick. Some folks with autistic or ADHD kids love a doubled batting for the weighted feel. Hot climate? Wool actually breathes. It sounds backwards, but a wool batted quilt can feel airy and cool while still keeping you warm. One of the loveliest quilts ever made in this studio used wool and batik fabrics, and it's a favorite for exactly that reason.
Most battings are a cotton blend, and bleached is worth seeking out if your quilt has light fabrics, since unbleached or recycled batting can carry a tint that shows through. Loft matters too. Low loft quilts flat between the stitching lines. High loft puffs up more, which is why show quilters sometimes layer a thin low loft cotton with a high loft wool on top, wool side toward the front.
Bottom line: don't overthink your first quilt. Grab something cheap from Walmart or your local quilt shop, practice, and figure out your preference over time.
Choosing your backing
Backing is where personal style gets to show up. If you want everything to match, pick a fabric from the same line as your top, often a large print piece, since on the back you get to see it uncut and whole. If you love a print that would get chopped up too much on the front, save it for the back instead. It's a great way to use a fabric you love without cutting it into tiny pieces.
Mitzie and Kelly called this the Rebecca Yarros Backing
Piecing the backing
Most quilts are wider than a single width of fabric, so the backing usually needs to be pieced. The math looks intimidating on paper but it isn't. Cut your backing pieces a few inches larger than your quilt top on every side, generally two to three inches if you're quilting it yourself, six inches if it's headed to a long armer who needs room for clamps. Trim off the selvage before sewing, since it's woven differently and won't have the same give as the rest of the fabric. And use a half inch seam allowance instead of a quarter inch. It's not required, but it makes the seam stronger, and with only one or two seams in a backing, the extra bulk isn't a problem.
Press those seams to the side rather than open.
Basting the quilt
Once your backing is pieced and pressed, lay it out on a table or floor, wrong side up, and secure it with painter's tape, pulled taut but not stretched. Wrinkles here become puckers later, so take the time to smooth it flat.
From there you've got two options. A temporary adhesive spray, which is the studio's go to method because it doesn't leave residue behind. We use 505 Temporary Fabric Adhesive Or curved safety pins, which plenty of quilters swear by. Neither one is wrong. This is your first quilt, so try the studio method here, and feel free to experiment with pins on a future quilt if you're curious.
If you're spraying, work in sections rather than all at once. Unroll or unfold your batting only a little at a time, spray a foot or so, smooth it down, and move to the next section. If you're piecing batting from leftover scraps, cut a gentle curve rather than a straight line where the pieces meet. It holds together like a puzzle piece instead of pulling apart under the needle.
Lay the quilt top down the same way, smoothing as you go and feeling underneath for any seams that got tucked the wrong direction. A flipped seam feels bumpy under your hand, and it's worth peeling back and fixing before you move on.
Once everything is smooth, press the whole thing to set the adhesive. Then you're ready for the machine.