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| 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.
