pucker up baby!
 

It seems like no matter how well I sandwich my quilt together, or how many pins or dabs of glue I use that I get puckers (tucks, gathers?) when quilting, especially when quilted lines intersect so I wind up with small tucks in certain spots. This happens with a walking foot at that. I'll be sewing along and all of a sudden I have a bunch of loose material in front of my foot.

I don't know if my batting is too fluffy to get a good taut top, or what I'm doing wrong. Or is this a problem that everyone gets and you just roll with it? Maybe I'm just fooling myself into thinking I'm using enough pins?

I had that same problem, and then I bought a new walking foot. Seems the old one wasn't moving the top fabric as it should.

what kind of bat are you using? a cotton/poly (80/20) is probably the easiest--higher loft poly bats really seem to give trouble. are you starting from the middle of the quilt and working out? That way you can adjust your pins. when I was quilting on my DSM, I found that the fusible bat always needed adjusting and really didn't work like I had hoped. I've never used glue but it may work the same way--I needed to be able to unpin and smooth as I worked out. Also, on doing lines, you need to be sure that you switch the direction which you are working so that it doesn't stretch as much. Your pins should be about the width of your hand (side to side) apart. Once I figured out using the hopping foot and FMQ I found even doing lines with that foot worked smoother than my walking foot--but you have to go slow and mark the lines. Also, long lines of quilting across the quilt are more likely to stretch the fabric and you'll get those tucks--so try to design your quilt design so that you can break the lines more (and re-smooth the top!)

Hmmm - The largest quilt I've done on my machine was about 65 x 85 inches.

I stitched all my lines the same direction. My reasoning - if the fabric was going to shift - it would all go the same direction instead of zig-zagging. My machine: An older Pfaff 1471. c

I only do stitch in the ditch and straight-line quilting.

Sometimes there is a bit of a "poof" when I go crosswise to the first lines of stitching, but I usually don't get pleats.

I know I had that issue with Warm & Plush (high loft cotton batting with no scrim). To correct it, I lowered the tension on my presser foot & switched to an open toe walking foot (versus one with that ditch guide down the center).

It sounds as if you are basting using some combination of pins and glue. Try switching to spray basting or glue basting. With spray basting, all three layers are continuously "glued" to each other. This minimizes how much the fabric can stretch while you are quilting. Glue basting is similar.

Also, heavily starching your backing and quilt top should help. Puckers are caused by the fabric stretching as it is quilted. This becomes particularly noticeable when you cross other quilting lines; there is excess fabric bunched up right next to the line you have to cross, requiring a tuck. Starching minimizes this issue because it stabilizes fabric and prevents it from stretching so much.

For backing fabric I like to use a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid laundry starch and water. My fast method of applying this is to "paint" it on the fabric using a large wall painting brush, waiting a few minutes to make sure the fabric has a chance to absorb the starch, tossing in the dryer, and ironing with steam. Steam reactivates dried starch.

For the top, multiple layers of spray starch can be used. Lay the top out on a large flat sheet and spray from the edges towards the center to minimize overspray. A fan can be used to hasten drying time between layers. For a quilt that has already been basted, you can use this technique on both the top and backing layers to stabilize them.

On some machines you can lessen the pressure on the presser foot. This also can help, especially if you are using a thicker batting.

You may be misunderstanding how to layer a quilt. Honestly, tautness is not an issue. What you want is a smooth backing, not a taut backing. If you stretch your backing fabric (for example, by stretching the fabric taut and then taping the edges to keep it taut), it will spring back to a normal tension as soon as you untape. If you have already basted, this adds fullness to the backing fabric and you are more likely to get puckers and tucks in the backing when you quilt. If spray basting or glue basting, you "smooth" each layer as you go. A yardstick is handy for smoothing out wrinkles and lumps. That's all. No tautness; just smoothness.

What batting are you using? A thick polyester batting is the hardest to quilt. Hobbs 80/20 is a good starter batting that has some loft, but not so much that machine quilting becomes difficult.

Prism99's statement about having the backing "smooth" - not taut like a drumhead - is very true.

PS -- I just noticed you mentioning a "taut top". The only layer that you want to tape a bit to keep smooth is the bottom layer. Regardless of basting method, the batting & quilt top should just be gently laid on top of the backing & you just use either flat hands or the side of your hand (or similar tool lik a yard/meter stick) to gently move any wrinkles out toward the edges. Putting any kind of pulling pressure at all on your batting or quilt top would definitely cause puckers.

Interesting discussion. I sandwich w/ either Sharon Schambers herringbone method (which uses boards) or w/ safety pins or with straight pins and pinmoors. I have never run into a problem w/ the herringbone method. I SITD starting at the same side each time. I have also used safety pins but sometimes do get tucks. I do not like the big hole they make so I doubt I will use them again. I have recently used fine long straight pins (flower heads) w/ pinmoors which I liked but since I only have 20 pinmoors, I started in the center of a baby quilt and worked outward. It worked well. I plan to buy more of the pinmoors. I think Prism might be onto something about the starch. No puckering with batiks which have substantial fabric count (thicker) and the most problem w/ puckering was with the extra wide fabric which was thinner. Thinking back, I think the extra starch would have worked. This will be an interesting post to follow.

Prism 99 You said that "for the top, multiple layers of spray starch may be used." I am assuming that you mean even after the top has been pieced. If so, do you press the top again after starching?