Great info for "Newbies" - Thankyou!
My favorite method for reducing/eliminating puckers is to *heavily* starch the backing fabric before layering. For this I use a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid laundry starch and water which I "paint" onto the yardage using a large wall painting brush. I give the fabric a few minutes to allow the fibers to soak up as much of the starch solution as possible, then toss it in the dryer and iron with steam. This is ideally done before you sew seams in the yardage to create the backing, but you can also do it after the backing is sewn *as long as* you are sure the fabric won't shrink a lot (in other words, you have pre-washed the backing fabric or have tested it to make sure it won't shrink when exposed to water). If it shrinks a lot after you have sewn the seams, the seams will ripple. This is why I prefer to heavily starch the backing yardage before cutting and seaming it into a backing.
It also helps to apply several layers of spray starch to the top before layering. To do this, lay the top on a large flat white sheet and spray. You can use a fan to speed the drying of the starch between layers. This method can also be used on an already-layered quilt sandwich, on both top and backing, to help prevent puckers.
What starch does is stabilize the fabrics so they are much less likely to stretch and distort as you machine quilt. It helps a *lot*![/QUOTE]