Basting Your Quilt Top

Basting the batting

Baste the Quilt Top

Pulling up the Bobbin Thread

Before quilting, you should be aware of how to pull up your bobbin thread. There are two methods. 

Floss Method – used before a computer pattern begins stitching and the head CAN NOT be physically moved. 

Take a single stitch. Grab the top thread with two hands and sweep it under the hopping foot (like flossing your teeth). It will pull the bobbin thread up. Hold both threads as you begin to stitch.

Push/Grab/Pull – used at the end of stitching a computer pattern when the machine CAN easily move. Also used at the start or end of hand guided stitching. 

Push the machine head away from the last stitch. Grab the thread and hold it while you bring the machine head back to where the stitching ended. Take a single stitch and move the machine head away again to pull up the bobbin thread. Hold both threads as you begin to stitch or trim the threads at the end of stitching.

Basting

One of the first steps to finishing your quilt is to baste the quilt in hand guided mode

Hand Guided Mode

Hand guided sewing does not follow a pattern. The stitch path is determined by the quilter’s motion, and the stitching attributes are based on the style chosen (Regulated, Constant, or Baste).  Ton enter hand guided mode, select the Hand Guided icon from your tool bar and using the drop down menu, select baste.  Now, you can return to your machine head and use your six-button keypad. Use the Mode button to mode until you reach Hand Guided and then press Select. The keypad will change to reflect that hand guided quilting tools. 

Using the Channel Lock

You may wish to use the channel lock to baste your quilt, particularly the batting in order to create a straight line across the to orient your quilt top.  Your belts must be engaged to use the channel locks

The channel lock feature will lock the machine across a plain. Channel lock angle determines what plain the machine will be locked in. 0 will keep the machine parallel to the bars along the machine. 90 degrees will be perpendicular. Flip Angle will change the angle by the degree entered. This may be helpful when switching from basting along the top to down the sides. 

Shift will change the labels and functions of the keypad.  Holding down shift and selecting Flip Chan will flip the angle of the channel lock without returning to the computer. 

Basting in Hand Guided Mode

Baste is a special type of regulated stitch that produces very large stitches. The stitch size is measured in inches-per-stitch instead of stitches-per-inch. Basting is commonly used when squaring and stabilizing a quilt. To begin, take a single stitch using the keypad and pull up the bobbin thread. Select the start button and move the machine head to begin stitching.  Select Stop to stop the machine from quilting. If using channel locks, you may need to change your angle to move down the sides of the quilt.