JoAnn’s sells a water-soluble spray glue that you spray on the layers to arrange them before quilting. It washes out when you’re finished. Haven’t tried it; but it sounds like it would cut the prep handling time considerably. I once used hundreds of safety pins to assemble the layers.
I go the safety pin route about half of the time, and large hand basting stitches other times. I’ll have to check out that spray you mention. Thanks for the tip!
I’m considering taking some of the tops, batts, and backings to a long arm quilter just to baste nice and tight.