I am very new to quilting. I've been trying to learn to machine quilt. How do you make sure that you don't get puckers either on the backing or in the front? I lay my backing on the tile floor and then tape it to the floor. I baste my quilt sandwich with basting safety pins. I'm doing some very basic quilting...outlining a square. I use a walking foot for that. I tried free motion quilting and the backing puckered even worse. I start in the middle & work my way out to the sides. Any hints for a newbie?

My life saver was basting spray. It holds the sandwich so much better and I had less problems with puckering then. Give it a try. It will help.

Several people here recommend really seriously starching the backing fabric. Some do spray starch and some do liquid. Go to "Search" at the top of the page, put in "Starch" and you'll get lots of information. Both for cutting accurate pieces and getting a smooth backing, lots of people starch.

Someone recently said on one thread that you can add spray starch to your backing even if you have it already basted to your quilt. I've never tried it myself but I thought it was an interesting suggestion.

Thank you so much for answering. I will try the spray & the starch as someone else suggested. I'm making simple rail fence quilts for some friends and so I will try both.

Thank you for answering. I'm certainly going to try the starch. I like your teapot saying, too.

Yup, starch! It stabilizes the backing fabric so it doesn't stretch and pucker on you while you are quilting. I heavily starch my backing fabrics before layering.

When you already have the quilt sandwich put together, try misting the back with spray starch several times, allowing it to dry in-between. Several people have said that stopped their puckering problem.

Oh, and I do think that spray basting helps also. Spray basting is the only kind of basting I do now; it's *so* much faster than other methods.

When I read the subject of this thread, "Puckers," I keep thinking it would be a great name for a dog or cat. My mind works in strange ways...my DH and I have an ongoing dialogue and are always popping up with weird names for animals.

I machine all my quilts. Try using a little longer stitch, this puts less stress on the bottom fabric.
Spray basting works best for me.
Safety pins created puckers and puckers.

I think I'm rather unconventional when it comes to the quilting part from what I gather from my quilting friends. I never pin the entire quilt. I only pin (using straight pins) the seam (if doing SID) or the block/area (if doing FM) in question. I press/iron after every seam/block of stitching and then smooth, smooth, smooth before pinning the next section/seam. It may be a bit more time consuming and labor intensive, but it works for me!

This good info. This is very similar to my way. I do quilt as you go. Press and smooth, then smooth and press.