I have tried lots of things to avoid the puckers at cross seams. I do use a walking foot, I gently pull the fabric taut on both sides of the walking foot as I come to the cross seam. I also do not sew long seams because the fabric still tends to advance. I alternate stitching directions on the first quilting rows going across the quilt. (left to right, then right to left) On the lengthwise quilting, I start in the middle and work out to the edges. Good luck! :thumbup:

Heavily starching the backing fabric and spray starching the top before layering pretty much prevents this problem. It stabilizes the fabrics so they don't stretch.

Once the quilt is already layered, applying multiple layers of spray starch to top and bottom will help a lot. Lay the quilt sandwich on a larger sheet to catch any overspray. Mist and let dry, mist and let dry. A fan will speed drying.

The tucks are caused by slight stretching of the fabric, even with the walking foot. Starch prevents this stretching.

The problem might be the pressing while you are piecing.

I had that problem when the sandwich wasn't taut enough.

I not only starch, but I spray baste also, then use a walking foot. I usually don't get any puckering at all, even when I have 8 points coming together at a corner.

How do you use the straight pins?

Thanks so much for your ideas.

I have tried machine quilting and because of the tucks, I do nothing but hand quilting now. I need to try the starching suggestion and see if that helps. Thanks for the question and all the responses.

If you will lower the tension on the presser foot, you will not have as much puckering.

Do you "butt" your seams? If the fabric is bulky, you'll get puckers sometimes when the machine has to go over a hump at the seam. That can be virtually eliminated if you butt your seams.