Originally Posted by Prism99
If you starch the top and bottom heavily before sandwiching, that would do a world of good. If you can't take the quilt sandwich apart, even just spray starching both sides several times should help.
I also recommend lengthening your stitch (try 4). Sorry, I may have missed this, but are you using a walking foot?
A thin cotton batting is easier to machine quilt than a polyester batting.
Also, looking at your photo, it appears that you are quilting
along the bias. Fabric that is not starched will distort more when you are quilting on the bias, so this may be contributing to the problem. Honestly, I think starch would solve a lot of your problem.
I think you are right about the batting , the thicker the puffiness will show, I have hand quilted and that is what I got, I liked that .. but if you want it to lay flat , you would need the right thickness, the thiner the flatter .. just my past exp with that.. I have made small blocks with all types of fillers as to go back on.. then I can not make that mishap ...also you can go to the fabric store they can tell you what filler to use when you buy the fabric just tell them what you are making.. most do know..
Hope it turns out right for you good luck..
KandKane