I'm making quilts and I'm having trouble with machine quilting the tops. For one I made for my nephew, I read how to lower the feeder dogs and raise the presser foot so you can freestitch, but I had a really hard time doing the designs (I made little bugs in the corners because the fabric pattern is smilie bugs). I have a magazine and I'd like to make one of the quilts in the book, but it requires machine quilting the top. Is there some secret to keeping it all straight when you straight stitch the top? How do you keep it from bunching up? If you quilt the top by hand, what kind of stitch do you use to keep the back from looking funky?

Thanks.

MTT, I've never made a quilt, but in my experience of working with large pieces of fabric, you just have to go really slow and keep pushing the material back straight as you sew. Otherwise, it will really bunch up and make you sew crooked. I've made curtains and bedspreads so I know how it will bunch up, especially when you turn the fabric.

Though I am very new to quilting, the instructions I've read all say to use a darning foot for freestyle quilting or a walking foot for straight lines. I just finished a quilt using a walking foot and had only very smalll issues with fabric bunching up.