Hi, wanted to add my 2 cents also. Your darning foot with the feed dogs down puts a lot less pressure on the quilt. When you lay it out go to your church and borrow a couple of their 8 ft. tables to push together. That is a nice surface to tape on. I use the wide blue painter's tape found at Home Depot or a hardware store. I tape all three layers separately. That is as they are added to the sandwich, tape the corners and sides to be sure there are no wrinkles to start with. As for spraying adhesive, you will be washing the quilt before you gift it. That should remove the adhesive. 505 does I think. Always start quilting in the center as others have said. Then you are pushing the looseness out to the sides. Do small areas at a time and get yourself some rubber gloves from the hardware store or ones that have little rubber dots on them. They are cooler and your arms won't get so tired.

Practice some free motion on an old quilt bat or create a sandwich or two. Keep your patterns relatively small and set small goals each day. Otherwise, you get to tired and flustered when it doesn't go well. Try it; you will like it once you give it a try. Remember to use Topstitch needles usually 90/14. Hope this helps. Excuse my spelling; I am lost without spell check.

I didn't read all the posts, but I can't get down on the floor either. I have a large cutting mat. I put it on my bed, cover it with the backing then pin as much of it as I can at a time around the egdes onto the bedspread to anchor it. Pull it until there are no wrinkes in the back, layer your batting and top. Pin everywhere and often. Then baste, remove pins and the if you need to cover more quilt, repeat. I start in the middle and work to edges. I'm short and this has always worked for me.It is a lot of steps but the result is worth it. :idea:

Can you give some instructions on how to assemble after quilting.

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I bought a quiltin gun, the grid to go under the quilt and all the little plastic plastic "pins". Looks like the old "buttonaire" but a lot smaller. You go thru a lot of "pins" but it's worth it. Place the grid under your quitl and tape the quilt down. I use painters tape so there is no residue. You can move the grid around from the top of the quilt and the point of the gun never hits the surface under the quilt. Took me a little over 1 hour to pin a double size quilt and you just cut the "pins" out in the area you are about to quilt. Hope this is understandable.

Wow, thanks for all the advice. I will begin testing these tips out and let you know what works out for me. Thanks so very much! There is a huge quantity of information here. Thanks!!

Well, I put my backing and then I tape it in place. I then add the batting and then the top. I spray baste my quilts and I also supplement with pins.

I did your same process with the T pins and the three layers, however, I used safety pins to hold the sandwich together. I started in the middle and worked out to all edges evenly. I pinned with the smaller pins about every 2-3 inches. It took a lot of time, but it didn't shift or skoot. When I quilted it, I started in the middle and would guide with my left hand, and with my right hand underneath I made sure the backing was smooth and straight. I removed the pins as I came to them. I used the dual feed or walking foot and sewed slow and steady. After you get out from the center, things move a little faster.
I just couldn't take all that sitting in the floor and working the pins with my hands. I wouldn't be able to sew for a couple of days after pinning one together. So I bought a longarm.

I also pin on the carpet - I know, right??? Seems like you can't do it that way - but I pin the corners and outer edges of the backing, right side down then layer the batting. Then, with the top folded in half, right sides together, I lay it on top of the batting, matching the center of the back. Now, here's why it works - I slide my cutting mat UNDER the backing so I have a hard surface to pin to when pinning all three layers. If I have to take out a pin attaching the back to the carpet in order to fit the cutting mat under, I just pull the backing tight again and re-pin. Move the mat around under the sandwish and pin like crazy!! Oh - and pin from the middle outward.

One thing I do, even if you are not doing fmq, wear those special gloves, or rest your hands on the quilt with the waffle fabric for shelf liners. While you are sewing, spread your hands to keep an outward pressure. Not so much that you distort the fabric, but enough to have some tension on the bottom layer.

When I do machine quilting with my regular sewing machine, I always go in one direction at a time...ie" to to bottom, side to side, or diagonal...depending on the quilt.

I also make sure I "tug" the area a tiny bit - while holding each side of the area going under the needle. I saw this on several videos.

The only time I'd lower the feed dog would be for FMQ, everything else has the feed dog engaged.

Also, take your time - going at a moderate speed, that works for me.

I just quilted a baby quilt with diagonal stitching and a walking foot. I spray starched my backing and I had better success with this one than on any other. I also spray basted and a few pins.

When I first started machine quilting I had a lot of problems with puckers on the backside. I tried Sharon Schamber's method of basting a quilt together and did not have a single pucker.