Ok, so I'm working on a quilt that has some appliqué and I'm having issues. When I zig zagged around my design it puckered the fabric and now my block is too small. I've done this before and didn't have trouble but I was using denim as the foundation fabric. So, why oh why is this happening to me???

You need to use a stabilizer on the back of the fabric. Otherwise you'll get puckering or tunneling.

You might want to cut your background bigger, too. You can always trim the block down after.

Janet

The cotton is not heavy enough. The denim was heavier, and could hold up better without puckers.
I have used plain paper for stabilizer in an pinch. It keeps the fabric from puckering up.

The background fabric isn't sufficiently stable. What I do for applique is heavily starch the background fabric before cutting, using a 1:1 solution of STa-Flo liquid laundry starch and water. I toss the yardage in the dryer, then iron with steam. The fabric comes out stiff enough so it doesn't distort, even with satin stitch (which tends to tunnel).

As someone else mentioned, it's also a good idea to cut your background pieces over-sized so that after the applique is done you can trim to correct size.

Definitely use something to stabilize! Starching helps but can only go so far.

If you're a coffee drinker like me, you can just use a coffee filter after ironing it flat for a stabilizer. And as the others said, cut you background a little larger...and use starch :D

Coffee filters????

A quilting friend uses them....I tried it and liked it......and you can buy a stack of them in the dollar store :-)

I agree....make the background block larger and square up after appliqueing. I've been using coffee filters for a long time as a stabilizer. Also, it comes off easier than anything else I've used.