I'm making a quilt throw for my dad and I used spray basting and althought I was very careful to get the backing stretched out good when I sprayed and sandwiched it, when I was doing my quilting, the backing started to pucker in places. I just went on and quilted it, too frustrated to seam rip it and try to get it unpuckered. I used a walking foot and quilting gloves and thought I did all I could to keep that from happening.. What did I miss? Should I not use the spray basting? :cry:

Sometimes, no matter how hard we work and all the extra care we take to make this not happen, it does anyway. Hope you can "quilt it out", Cathy MIller, the singing quilter, wrote a song called "You can quilt it out". A funny but goodie. YOu can google her website and hear it. CHin up, it happens to the best of them. WHy else would there be a song? Happy quilting.

OK, I know it is not funny, have had it happen myself. I am guessing that your back was not as flat as you thought. You might try using masking tape to secure to the floor for spray basting.

Now for the funny part: How to stop puckering? Botox.

Sometimes the puckers (as long as they are not actual tucks in the sewing) will not show once the quilt is washed and becomes "crinkly". I'm sure it will be just fine.

some times even with the spray you still need to either baste of pin around the edges. all the moving around pulls the sprayed layers around too, pinbasting the edges helps keep you together. I think the spray is best used on small projects, like wall hangings and table runners, it seems there are always problems when using it on larger projects. it helps to start in the middle and work your way out smoothing as you go. i hope it turns out ok when you are finished. it does take practice. I have never had any luck with the spray on anything larger than a table runner and i still had to baste all the way around it.

You took the words right out of my mouth. I tried the spray basting once with the same results. Now if I spray baste I still pin. And sometimes especially with flannel, I turn it over and smooth and repin if necessary to get those excesses out.

I also use the spray basting with mixed results. Sometimes I get puckers, and sometimes not. This is probably a no no, but when I start to get a pucker I actually turn the quilt over and machine quilt it to ease the pucker out. That way, I don't get an actual fold which makes me very very crazy!!!

I spray basted a less than twin size recently and had lots of wrinkles on both the back and front. I took it to the person who demonstrated spray basting and asked him what to do about it. He said to press with hot iron. That would soften up the spray and enable me to smooth it out. I did this and it seems to work. I havn't started quilting yet but will iron again before I do. Also will pin with straight pins around the area I am qulting. Each square gets a motif. I was going to quilt in the ditch but pressed seams open and didn't have any ditches to quilt in so have to do a bit more elaborate quilting.
So, try ironing and smooth. ALSO, as you are quilting be aware of the back and smooth as much as possible.

Can you use a walking foot? That keeps all the fabric even.

I noticed you said you stretched your backing. It shouldn't be stretched. Just laid out nice and smooth and fastened down.

I did use a walking foot which helped the fabric move, but still happened. Wouldn't pressing it after spray basting mash down the padding inside?

Very good Pam, but where on the quilt sandwich so you inject it?

You have to remember to tighten your back as you quilt, I always give my back a little(gentle) tug to make sure that it is also laying flat. But, with the spray starch I have had no problems. Oh yeah, I use Ti pins to pin it to my floor with a little bit of a stretch on it.

I have learned so much from these postings. I feel relieved that I am not the only one that gets puckers. Just learned about the 505 spray and if it works, it will save me from a lot of back pain. Thank you everyone for being honest and willing to teach others.

Is this going corner to corner stretch may be coming from bias stretch, have never used spray but lots of pins or loose baste to keep in place. :)

Good point...stitching diagonally can stretch both fabric and batting and it is easy to get puckers when you do. One way to help with that is to do all your horizontal and vertical stitching first, then go to the diagonal stitching.

Thanks for all the advise. I was trying to save time by using the spray baste but next time, i'll use it with pinning as well.:)