Fergiethedog

I used to have little folds in the back of my quilts when I pin . Now I spray baste and never have puckers. Besides it is soooo much faster than pinning

littlebitoheaven

Hoping to make you feel a bit better - I recently finished a Hidden Wells Quilt. It was my third HWQ and at least my 20th quilt. I had nothing but problems with it (I cut all my own strips). I had starched the heck out of the blocks (to keep them from stretching). I fought that quilt every step of the way. I did the QAYG method, which I really liked but I tried quilting with glow in the dark thread and when I pressed the blocks, the tread melted and I had to pick the thread out of two 16" blocks. Quilting the borders was so difficult, I felt like I was fighting a whale (It was only a twin). I was never so glad to finish a quilt in my whole life. I would have quit but I had already showed it to my GD. I was ready to stop quilting, I was so distraught over the whole thing. I used a flannel back and spray basted the blocks. I am now doing another quilt for another GD and everything is going along just fine. It has a minky back, which I really don't like using as well as I like batting. My GD picked out the jelly rolls and the minky. Again, sometimes "stuff" happens and once you move on it doesn't seem so bad. Also, I washed the HW quilt and it crinkled up beautifully and I agree that once washed no one will ever see the puckers. Hope my story helped you through this project.

tessagin

Pre-cuts are never the same. I have purchased pre-cuts and some so bad, I sent them back. Many off by as much as an inch to 1 1/2 inch. They definitely don't hang to square up the material before they cut. Haven't purchased pre-cuts for quite a while. I take that back, I did for my little niece who practices on her new/first machine.

LITTLEOLDME

Wash it and don't fret, things happen ,I know that if the backing isn't tight when you quilt ,you will get the wrinkles ,not sure about you top. Sorry it is giving you so much trouble but don't let this stop you, watch some information you tube about quilting. I do it often to find some answer to question I have , even run into something that I could use in the future. Happy quilting

Sewnoma

I just watched my first ever Craftsy class this weekend, it's a FMQ class by Leah Day. At the end she had some extra stuff and one extra was a clip from another class where she shows her method of basting. She uses a couple folding tables and wraps wide elastic around the legs which she then stretches up and pins to the backing, which then pulls the backing taut and keeps it super smooth.

I think I'm going to try it...I'll need to buy another folding table (I have 1 but will need 2) but it looks so much easier (and less wasteful) than my current method that involves using up half a roll of blue tape and crawling around on the hard floor. I would LOVE to get the basting step up off the ground...my back and hips aren't as young as the rest of me, LOL. And I still get puckers sometimes with my current method...Leah's method looks like it'd solve that entirely.

Teri D

Try Sharon Schaumberg's "Basting with Boards" method. I had a dreadful time layering and pinning until I found her method -- once I understood it and tried it, I've never looked back! It works with pinning, thread basting, and spray basting. I don't have the link handy but you should be able to find the video using a search engine. No more groveling around on the floor for me!

drpaul002

I never thought of pinning to my living room carpet. Usually lay the quilt, backing, and batting on my bed. Then start using quilting safety pins to put together. From there use my quilting hoop, and start hand stitching.

citruscountyquilter

I didn't see any mention of what kind of foot was being used when machine quilting. I find that a walking foot is essential when I'm quilting unless it is free motion. This really helps feed all the layers through the machine at the same rate and thus reduces the chance of puckering.
I have never basted a quilt with straight pins but have pin basted using safety pins which worked pretty good. Thanks to posts on this board however I now only glue baste my quilts with washable school glue. I lay my batting out flat and put the glue on that holding the bottle up rather high away from the bat to get a fine stream coming from the bottle. I then spread the quilt back over the quilt bat. I do it in sections. I found that putting the glue on the bat reduced any glue seeping through on the table and also allowed me to smooth the quilt back over the bat to make sure I didn't get any puckers. After doing the back I flip it over and do the same process for the front. I love the fact that I don't have the extra bulk of the pins when I wrestling the quilt through my machine and I can quilt anywhere on the quilt without having to worry about hitting or removing pins.

AnnEliz

What is the Elmer's Glue method. I have never heard of is. I use 505 Temporary Spray and I like it a lot. Thanks

carolynjo

Sounds like good advice from folks. Good luck.