I don't think the quilt looks bad at all. Kind of has the look of an older "antiquey" quilt - one that has cotton batting in it. I've seen them where they look kind of puckered. I had a smaller one do this way. Ironing helped some. Some friends saw it and thought it was pretty. They never knew what happened. I would think it is the batting that shrunk and like someone else said, take out the quilting and requilt - maybe at a later date. It's a lovely quilt.