You’ve FINALLY finished that quilt top you’ve been working on. 

Now that it’s all put together, you know you are going to love it when it’s finished. It may be your favorite quilt yet! 

All you have to do is quilt it and finish it up. 

Maybe it’s even worth a bit of free motion quilting? 

Whatever you choose, you want to make sure it comes out perfect, and getting a good baste is the first step to making sure you machine quilting goes over smoothly. 

One of the number one issues quilters come across when machine quilting is pleats or puckering underneath the stitching. 

Your basting (or lack of basting) can leave pockets of air between the layers that don’t have any adhesive keeping them in place allowing the fabric to fold as the presser foot transitions between the basted and un-basted areas. 

A high quality basting spray that you actually enjoy using is one of the best ways to avoid this frustrating experience during quilting.

So today I’m going over the best basting sprays out there today, as well as why it’s important to take your time when basting to avoid these issues in the future.

Why do you need basting spray for quilting – what is it even used for?

Basting spray securely holds your quilt layers aligned while you machine quilt your quilt. 

To get a smooth finish to your quilting, your layers have to be held taught so they don’t wrinkle, bunch, pucker or pleat underneath the sewing machine. 

Basting spray is a specialty fabric adhesive that temporarily secures your quilt layers so they don’t slip while you quilt. 

What causes bunching during quilting?

Bunching of a quilt during quilting happens when the layers of your quilt end up slip past each other, more often than not, even when you’ve basting. 

Often times when you have had mishaps when spray basting, which can occur for multiple reasons, you’ll end up with pockets of unbasted areas throughout your quilt sandwich. 

As you machine quilt over the quilt top, the presser foot has to apply a pressure to keep the entire quilt from sliding around underneath it. 

If your quilt top is not basted well, the pressure from the presser foot is enough to make the quilt top slip past the batting, stretching it and misaligning it with the other layers. 

When you eventually get to the edge of the air pocket, you transition to an area where the quilt top is now held in place where it should have been and you end up pleating over the excess un-basted quilt top over the section that is now securely held in place. 

How do I stop my quilt from bunching during quilting?

A thorough baste will significantly reduce your quilt from bunching during quilting.

I touched on this in the intro, but let’s dive a little deeper into it. 

There are a few reasons why you might not be getting a thorough baste causing those air pockets and subsequent pleating:

• You aren’t using enough spray
• Your fingers getting sticky are making it difficult to complete
• The spray dried too quickly
• The spray simply didn’t adhere to the fabric 

All of these things are reasons why you may see pleating, puckering, and bunching.

This is a game of surface area coverage. 

The more evenly you have the wrong side of your quilt top and backing coated, the better baste you will get. 

And the less air pockets you have, the less puckering you’ll see. 

Note: It IS possible to soak your fabric in basting spray. There is a line between not enough and too much, if you are seeing wet marks through your quilt top, you’ve gone too far. If we compare it to spraying hairspray, we are looking for the happy medium between no hold, and soaking in it. 

If you’ve gotten to the point where you’ve found puckering or pleating in your quilting, be sure to check out our article on 7 Quilting Mistakes and How to Fix Them to get yourself back on track. 

What To Look For When Buying Basting Spray

Unfortunately there is a bit of trial and error when it comes to your personal preference of brands, but the qualities you should be looking for are these:

• Sprays as a fine spray, not as large drops or liquid stream (should remind you of hairspray consistency)
• The spray nozzle is large enough that your fingers don’t get in the way of the spray stream
• Does not gum up your sewing machine needle as you quilt
• It actually holds the fabric 

The finer the spray, the better surface area coverage that spray can provide. 

This means you’l have a much easier time getting an even coating of basting spray. 

If you come across a brand that feels more wet than a typical hairspray, you are likely going to end up with spotty coverage. 

An appropriately sized spray nozzle

You are spraying straight adhesive, if the nozzle is so small your finger doesn’t physically fit on it without getting in the way of the spray stream, you’ll end up with super sticky fingers to the point where it will build up and drip off onto your quilt as you spray. 

You are likely going to end up with sticky fingers regardless, you do NOT need any extra help just because of the design of the can. 

Does not gum up your sewing needle. 

As you machine quilt through the layers, low quality sprays will actually build up on your needle as it moves up and down. 

While this won’t necessarily hurt your machine, it can be a pain to clean up so it doesn’t redeposit on the top of your quilt. 

It actually holds the fabric. 

Not all spray adhesives are made for fabric! There are definitely some cheap spray adhesives that will look super tempting to save a couple bucks. 

Be aware when you find one of these because a spray adhesive for scrapbooking is not the same as a basting spray. 

You’ll end up with a soaked quilt, and absolutely no hold. 

And potentially a pint of ice cream on the couch in frustration. 

How do you spray baste a quilt

Spray basting is not only one of the easiest methods to baste a quilt, but I whole-heartedly believed it’s the most reliable method. 

Most people have used hair spray or spray paint in their lives. If you can use either one of those, spray basting will feel very similar. 

Simply spray the wrong sides of your fabric, and press to adhere to the batting. 

There are definitely more than a few tips and tricks to making this an easy process, getting the fabrics lined up nicely, and making sure you don’t end up with a glue ball of a quilt top. 

If you are interested in seeing the full process on how to spray baste a quilt, be sure to check out the tutorial here. 

Common FAQs on Basting Spray

How long does quilt basting spray last

Spray basting typically stays wet for about 30 seconds.

In this time you can smooth out your fabric against your batting to get the perfect baste, reposition it if you need to, or work out any wrinkles where the fabric happened to adhere to itself before it found the batting. 

If you happen to miss the 30 second (ish) window, you can usually just spray a bit more down. 

If you have already finished basting your quilt and found a few pockets of air, don’t rip up the areas to respray, all you have to do is give it a good once over with the iron. 

Heat from an iron will reheat the adhesive making it tacky again, giving you a new window to work with the same spray. 

Even when I am confident in my basting, I will generally always iron both sides of my quilt sandwich before starting quilting. 

An iron will work out any potential air pockets you might have missed and is a quick way to ensure a thorough basting. 

How do you remove basting spray from fabric / does it wash out

In general, basting spray is almost always marketed as temporary and washes out when you wash the quilt for the first time. 

While the spray will make the quilt feel a bit stiff just after you’ve basted it, once you have take the time to machine quilt it, bunched it up, and pushed and pulled it, the spray becomes less stiff, but keeps its hold. 

By the time you have fully quilted it, you will likely not even notice it in the quilt. 

Is spray adhesive permanent

No. The spray is not permanent. If left unquilted, the basting spray will eventually lose its hold causing you to have to respray it. 

While this may not happen for weeks, it will eventually let go. 

That being said, if you finished basting your quilt and the next day decide you wanted to use an entirely different backing fabric, the hold is gentle enough that you could rip the fabric off a freshly basted quilt sandwich fairly easily. 

The Best Basting Spray

Now that we’ve spent way too much time talking about something as simple as adhesive spray, let’s get to the important stuff. 

Which ones should you look for, and which ones should you avoid like the plague?

Elmer’s Glue Spray Adhesive

It’s a cheap one, and is readily available in almost every Walmart and craft store. 

But be aware, there’s a reason it’s not in the sewing aisle.

It’s not made for fabric. It’s also the reason I didn’t bother keeping the bottle to photograph for this post.

This one is simply aerasoled white Elmer’s glue designed for scrapbooking or other paper based crafts. 

Although it may be half the price of the actual basting sprays, don’t waste your time, money, or fabric on it. 

It’ll just create a mess that sticks to anything except your actual quilt. 

Odif 505 Basting Spray

Many quilter’s swear by Odif 505 basting spray, and it is said to be the only basting spray recommended by the sewing machine manufacturer Bernina so take what I’m about to say with a grain of salt. 

Maybe I just got a bad couple of cans, but I find that the spray nozzle is way too small for my hands that are already pretty small. 

I found that my finger reaches over the edge of the spray nozzle as I sprayed which lead to me getting constantly coated in the adhesive – far more than most other brands I’ve tried.

I also found that the nozzle would get clogged up and would start to squeal like it was building up pressure. 

Eventually I got to a point where I would put the can outside in-between spray passes because it was leaking adhesive from under the nozzle from pressure build-up.

Like I said, many quilter’s swear by 505 basting spray, and it’s possible I just got a bad can that doesn’t regularly leak, but the spray nozzle being too small and the mess it made before it leaked was enough to make me prefer other brands.

Is 505 spray toxic?

Many people ask if 505 is toxic, and the answer is no. There are regulations around aerosols and all of the adhesives on this list uphold the regulatory requirements for toxicity in the their products when it comes to ozone. 

It also is odorless which is not necessarily the case for the other basting sprays on the list. 

If your concern is a good hold though, there’s no doubt about it that this is a good basting spray for what you need it to do, and since Bernina backs it up, I’ll probably give it a second try if I can’t find my go-to brands. 

If you’d like to try this brand for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here. 

June Tailor Quilt Basting Spray

June Tailor basting spray is my go-to when it comes to basting. 

I find the hold of June Tailor adhesive is on the same level as the 505 spray, but the spray nozzle is much larger which means significantly less frustration during the basting process or clean up afterwards. 

The adhesive is a bit thinner in consistency than the 505 which means it sprays finer and covers a bit more consistency. 

However, this also means a bit more overspray on the floor or basting surface but by keeping some Goo-Gone on hand this is a quick clean up. 

Personally I much rather prefer a bit of floor clean up after basting than having hands that feel like they’ve been covered in super glue. 

And in all the years I’ve been spray basting, I have never come across a can that leaked during use. 

So for convenience during use, with comparable hold, and reliable control, June Tailor basting spray is, in my opinion, the best basting spray on the market for use during quilting. 

Save yourself the hassle of getting your hands sticky and worrying about getting it on the surface of your newly finished quilt. 

Shop June Tailor Basting Spray on Amazon and get back to quilting. No puckering in sight.