QuiltingHaven

I use the spray basting however, I also pin the quilt beginning in the middle and pin about every 10 inches. And I remove the pins as I quilt. I also use the walking foot. I also pin with straight pins in the area that I am working and remove them as I go. The spray basting is great but on a small machine, (featherweight) I want to make sure that everything is wrinkle free on the bottom and the top.

Patricia Drew

In addition to all the excellent advice above, may I add my comments? If you're quilting on a domestic machine, the quilt sandwich gets handled a lot as it goes through the relatively small harp. This can destabilize your quilt sandwich, even if you have spray-basted. With large projects, after I have spray-basted (using the "board" method), I will machine baste a grid on my quilt sandwich with water-soluble thread. It's an additional step ... but it makes a big difference. Machine basting dissolves completely when you wash the quilt.

Barbpr

I also machine baste or stitch in the ditch a grid after spraying. One quilt I made for my MIL puckered like this but the puckers disappeared after a few washings.

it is a darling quilt, though.

Mitty

I'm so sorry, that must be so frustrating! I don't have a lot of add to what people have said, but maybe try a completely different method of basting. I like pin basting myself (use LOTS of pins, and if you're not using a walking foot, use even more), but there's hand basting and white glue, and possibly others I'm not thinking of. Instead of practicing on your quilt, try sandwiching two pieces of fabric and the batting and experiment with different ways of basting until you find one that works.

The other thing is if you can get someone experienced with making the quilt sandwich to work with you, the two of you might figure out where it's going wrong. Really, truly, good luck.

cannyquilter

Thank you so much for your advice. My machine does have a 9inch harp but the quilt does get a lot a pushing and pulling. I gave up on pinning because I really struggled to get fabric crease free. As I'm unpicking I'm seeing that a lot of the areas which are puckered, the stitched have run really close together so I think there is probably an issue with the quilt getting hung up as I'm manoeuvring it. I've taken a few classes and worked with 14" sandwiches it's when I'm doing a whole quilt that I'm encountering problems. I'm going to straight pin the areas which need resewing, I know once it's washes the smaller puckers will disappear but this is a gift so want it to be as good as I can get it.

Eva Knight

Just had the same issue with my quilt. I used 505 spray and think maybe I didn't use enough. Also, I think maybe I was putting to much pressure on the quilt as I moved it around. Have spray more heavy before and I didn't have that problem.

cjsews

May I add that I make sure the area I am quilting is smooth under the machine. Also I put tension on the quilt sort of spreading it out to the sides with my hands. This helps decrease the top from being left behind as the bottom feeds thru.

PaperPrincess

I think you've diagnosed your own problem. The quilt is catching on something, either the edge of the table, corner of the machine and/or it's not being fully supported. My guess is the backing is getting hung up. Since you are applying pressure from the top, that moves forward while the back is stuck and your walking foot helps the top to slide forward from the rest of the sandwich. After spraying, a few pins wouldn't hurt, and reassess your machine and table set up. Now that you are watching for this situation, you should have more success. Machine basting with water soluble thread and SITD around all your blocks first are also good suggestions. Please let us know how you get on.

Bree123

If you pull the backing too tight before basting, that will happen. You can use Sharon Schamber's board basting method, or else -- if you're taping the backing to the floor/table to baste, make sure that the backing fabric is smooth, but not taught. I tape the top, then gently smooth with flat hands (often I use the backs of my hands to ensure I'm not pulling the fabric) to the bottom of my quilt & tape -- then I do the same thing with the right & left sides. Once that's all done, you can spray & lay your batting on top, then do the same for the quilt top.

Donnamarie

I would think that maybe you should also pin baste. If you pin baste, all three layers will be held together, and when you sew around them, the fabric would not move. I always in baste, use a walking foot, and don't have those problems. Try it, it might work better than your results now. Good luck!