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How to adhere quilting paper to my quilt sandwich

Quilting paper by Golden Threads

Quilting paper by Golden Threads

Grace asks...

I'm finding that when I use regular tape or double sided tape to adhere my quilting motif to the my block that the tape doesn't stick very well to the fabric when I'm free motion quilting. The paper tears very easily and shifts.

What kind of tape would adhere to fabric better?

Any suggestions?

Julie replies...

I'm assuming that you're using a quilting paper like that made by Golden Threads.

When I first used quilting paper for marking free motion quilting designs, I used temporary spray adhesive to adhere the paper to the quilt top.

KK2000 temporary spray adhesive was already in my toolbox to use for machine embroidery. It definitely holds the paper in place, but, honestly, it makes it a pain to remove the paper.

KK2000 dissipates over a couple of days...but who wants to wait to see how the quilting looks. And my tendency to 'over-spray' didn't help matters either.

So I dug in my toolbox again...

...and came up with flower head pins.

The kind I use are by Clover. They are fine (.55mm thick) and have a heat resistant 'flower' head.

Regular pins with their 'ball' heads tended to distort the quilt sandwich just enough to annoy me.

The flower head pins lay flat with little to no distortion. Just like pin basting a marked quilt sandwich, avoid pinning through the design lines so you don't have to stop to remove the pins as you're quilting.

So now when I use Golden Threads quilting paper, flower heads pins are my first choice.

If you still feel more comfortable with tape, then I would suggest the same masking tape (not blue painter's tape) you use to hold the backing fabric in place for pin basting.

It's got more holding power than the cellophane or 'magic' tapes and is probably already in your quilting tool box. Just remember, don't leave it on your quilt for an extended time so the adhesive won't accidentally transfer to the quilt fabric.

I hope this has helped you find a suitable way to hold your quilting motifs in place for quilting.

Readers, what do you use?

Share your thoughts and ideas with the 'Comments' link just below. Thank you!

Piecefully,

Julie Baird
Editor

Comments for How to adhere quilting paper to my quilt sandwich

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re: elmers dot stamper
by: Grace

Not sure if my previous response went through so sending again.
Thanks for the input on the dot stamper, I will check out at Walmart. Curious, did the paper shift a lot when trying to quilt the design?

Tried the pounce powder and that works well, just bought the blue powder and hoping that will work on light colored fabric.
Better than tape
by: Anonymous

I bought an Elmer's Adhesive Dot Stamper at the Houston Quilt Festival. It works GREAT! I have seen them at Walmart along with the refills.
re: adhering quilt paper to quilt squares
by: Grace

Thanks Julie for your comments . I will try the flat head pins and regular masking tape next time. Luckily my quilt has dark colors so I used the pounce powder to get the design on to my blocks. This will come in handy for doing designs on light colored fabric. I had thought of the air adhesive spray and wondered how easily it would be to get the paper off right away and yes I am using the Golden threads paper.
Golden threads sells adhesive dots, has anyone used that and gotten good results.

From Julie...Grace, I had used the adhesive dots a few times for paper piecing to adhere the first piece to the paper pattern and had a hard time removing the fabric from the paper as I recall...I'll see if I can't find the tool and try it again and report back here...

~Julie
~

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