Using Elmer's Washable School Glue to baste your quilts

Elmer's Washable School by the gallon is $14.00 on Amazon - cheap  I should be able to do at least 18 quilts with a gallon of glue
vs
505 in the red can $13.00 a can and I can get maybe 3 quilts per can

Read on and see if this method is for you.

My guild President asked me this past Sunday why I would want to use glue on my quilts, I gave a quick answer but will go into some depth here.
I hate pinning - nothing seemed to stay flat and in place no matter how many pins I used.  I would poke my fingers and sometimes get some blood on the quilt that I would have to remove then.  NO blood on quilts as there is enough sweat and tears - he he he do you remember the group Blood, Sweat and Tears :) I spend too many hours pinning quilts either on the floor or on tables if the quilt was small enough - I distinctive remember spending 8 hours pinning my son's quilt for when he passed boot camp for the NAVY back in the day when I only stitched in the ditch.  I hated taking all those pins out again as I was sewing along.
When I found 505 temporary spray adhesive, I was in hog heaven!  The answer to my prayers was at last at hand.  I scoured the Internet to find the best price and by ordering it by the case it was about $13.00 a can for the large size. Now, 505 in the red can comes from Frances but is still the same as the 505 found here in the USA.  I figured I could get 3 maybe 4 quilts out of each can.  Not bad, since it cut the sandwiching process down expediently. I experience no fumes with the spray either,
but there is still is the cost.  This was when I decided to try FMQ on my domestic machine also and I was zipping along in no time.
I had been reading on the Internet at the Quilting Board, that some folks were trying the Elmer's Washable School Glue for basting their quilts together.  I know in elementary school in Canada where I was a support worker that we frequently used this glue on the cloth crafts that the children would make at Valentine's Day.  So I asked if anyone had done a tutorial - no one had so I figured I could do this.
The Elmer's Washable School glue is affordable (I even tried some Playschool washable glue I found at the 99 cent Store) I bought a gallon and a single bottle to put glue in to for around $ 17.00 - I have done 14 quilts and still have a little more than 1/3 of the gallon left.  So for less than a dollar a quilt I have found an excellent alternative to pinning and spray basting.
If kids can eat this stuff at school and we all know that they do unintentionally I know it is safe for my quilts and for the environment.
Yes, it does wash out in warm water in the washing machine.  I take my quilts as a rule to the laundry mat (see that posting here too) as I have an HE top loading washer and it is not the best for washing anything larger
than a lap quilt.

If I use Elmer's I will have more money for fabric :)


Okay everyone!  Sweet Adeline Quilts has perfected the Elmer's Washable Spray Glue in a spray bottle ratio so here you go!  It is as follows: " I played around with watered down elmers in a spray bottle (1 part glue to 3 parts water) and it worked but requires a LOT more ironing."

or

I have tweaked a recipe from a member of the Quilting Board forum that I follow.  Mrs. Beasley posted a recipe that I finally got around to trying yesterday, I modified the recipe to keep in step with my cooking style.  The spray glue mixture sprayed easily out of the bottle and had a nice adhesion to it.
So here we go!

3 cups of water
1/2 tsp salt
8 ounces or rubbing alcohol
clean spray bottle


- In a pot place 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp of salt bring to a boil and reduce to a gentle boil.
- In a gravy shaker (or a jam jar) put 1 cup of cold water and 3 tbsp of flour - shake until the flour and water are combined.
- Whisk the flour mixture into the gently boiling water like you are making gravy and let it cook until the consistency of gravy/egg whites/ thin gruel.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool down to room temperature.
- In a clean spray bottle add 8 ounces of rubbing alcohol and the cooled flour mixture, gently shake and go sandwich a quilt.

*** There was one posting that someone had sprayed a quilt and left for a few months and they had some mold grow.  Since I am not going to leave my two quilts that I sandwiched yesterday that long I can't say for certain that this does or does not happen.  I just wanted everyone to know that this had been reported. 

 First, I put my Warm and Natural Batting in the dryer for a bit to try and soften the wrinkles.  The I spread it out on my ping pong table (we never play ping pong on it, I use it only for quilting purposes)

 Then I spread my backing on the top of the batting. I arranged it so that there was batting showing underneath all around the edges.  I smoothed it all with my hands to ensure that there were no wrinkles in the batting.

 Then I folded half of the backing towards the center of the quilt, (like folding a piece of paper in half on the long side of the paper.)

 Now, holding the smaller bottle of glue over the batting at about 18 inches high  I began to squeeze out the glue. With constant pressure I swirled the glue about 18 inches back and forth until I had about an 18 inch square swirl of glue.  It dotted and did not lie in a straight line.  I did this the entire length of the quilt.

 I started in the center of the length of the backing and gentle lifted and pulled it towards me.  I then smoothed it down with my hand. Then I did the same thing towards the left of me until I reached the end of the row and then I did the same thing on the right side.

 I made sure there were no wrinkles and hand pressed the backing to the batting.

 I repeated the same actions on the other side of the table with the glue onto the batting, then hand pressing it down.   The I let it dry overnight.  I positioned the quilt so that the center line was on the table's middle so that there was even pressure on the quilt as it dried.

I glued right up to the edge of the quilt!  When I FMQ, I work the FMQing around the edge of the quilt and quilt into the middle of the quilt.  The exact opposite of most folks.  I read that if you quilt was securely basted it didn't matter where you started and ended :)

 It repeated the gluing and hand pressing for the quilt top.  I know you can see ripples on the batting, but once the glue and hand pressing was completed the weight and pressure flattened them right out.  I let it all dry overnight once again and FMQed the next day.

Here is the completed quilt, it is a Turning Thirty for my stepson in the Army up in Alaska.  I made pillowcases to coordinate also.  I washed the quilt in a triple washer at the laundry mat with Purex soap pucks and 2 Color Catchers.  I pieced the back aka Back Art, as it is more of a scrappy quilt.  I am sure he will like it!  Sorry the picture is sideways, I tried to straighten it, but to no avail.