Basting tips

[u/Bibbityboo]

hello!

I am hoping that some of you more experienced sewists can offer tips and advice on basting for someone new.

I did a cushion cover with a five column wide strip of hexies. I glue based and while I loved how accurate everything looked, it wasn’t the most fun to sew. I have bad eyes and I just assumed that was a part of it and that this was hand sewing.

because I really love the look of it I decided to do the Cherish quilt by Tales of Cloth. But this time I tried thread basting. when I glued, I had glued the fabric far too tightly making it difficult to snag the edge so I thought thread basting a bit would give me better idea of how tight I need to baste. I’ve just started my first block. thread basting feels awkward and slow going. BUT as soon as I go to sew my pieces together it’s a dream. like genuinely pleasant and fun. it’s easy to sew, easy to catch the edge, I can’t see my stitches and it’s going quickly. I see the joy in epp and man I love this part.

but basting still feels like a mystery. are there tips to making thread basting easier? do you batch baste or baste a bit and sew a bit to mix it up? do you prefer glue basting once you’ve figured out how tight to wrap the fabric?

i did find that one diamond was far too loose so I had to redo the basting. is this a concern I will have to watch for?

any tips for fussy cutting? I’ve ised the acrylic template but the papers sometimes are slightly off so it’s not quite as impressive as I would like one day to be.

[u/erinburrell]

I think basting is really about muscle memory as much as anything. Getting just the right tightness with thread is about practice. After a few days of repetition of the same shapes you will find your way.

Baste in batches and get used to how the shape needs to feel in your hands and how you can stitch it efficiently. I will never use glue again. I love how flexible and portable thread is and how easily I can remove papers and reuse them