With time and practice, pin basting does get faster. Large plastic top folding tables also work well for this and if you have a large quilt you can push two tables together. Basting a large quilt can be a challenge, but I have found that working at it in sections makes the job very manageable. I became very tired of crawling around on my hardwood floor and putting safety pins in to baste them! This past year I’ve been attending and actually was the president of the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild. I make a lot of large quilts, usually full to queen size, and spray basting works wonders. It is better to spray or pin baste large quilts. (Read: Four Ways to Baste a Quilt, Pros and Cons) For small quilts, I prefer the quick Iron/Press Baste Method. Spray Basting with Christa Watson They can be around 1 -1 1/2″ The stitches can be big! You’ve worked so hard on your beautiful quilt top, now’s the time to make sure you pin baste correctly. Hints and tips to help as well! I usually baste my quilts on the carpeted floor of my living room but you can also use a table if you have one large enough for your quilt. Learn how to hand baste a quilt top. For me, the only upside is the knowledge that soon I will actually be quilting! I started spray basting all of my quilts a while back. I did want to say, though, that you mention overspray. This is for prepping the quilt either for machine quilting or hand quilting. Pin basting a quilt is a necessary evil (like cutting hundreds of pieces of fabric for a quilt). Basting the three layers of a quilt together is no one’s favorite task. However, for quilts larger than a fat quarter, press basting is not enough to prevent the layers from shifting. There are several ways to baste a quilt.