Tufting machine for forming patterned tufted articles including multiple different yarns (Y1 - Y4), comprising: at least one needle bar having a series of needles mounted therealong; backing feed rolls for feeding a backing material through a tufting zone of the tufting machine; a yarn feed mechanism for feeding a series of yarns (Y1 - Y4) to said needles; a series of gauge parts mounted below the tufting zone in a position to engage said needles of said at least one needle bar as said needles are reciprocated into the backing material to form tufts of yarns in the backing material; at least one shifter linked to said at least one needle bar for shifting said at least one needle bar transversely across the tufting zone; and a system controller configured to run a stitch distribution control system; wherein the stitch distribution control system is adapted to receive a pattern image and perform a series of pattern steps for controlling said yarn feed mechanism to control feeding of the yarns (Y1 - Y4) to said needles and said backing feed rolls to control feeding of the backing material to form the patterned tufted article, wherein the stitch distribution control system is configured to: - control the shifting and feeding of the yarns (Y1 - Y4) of each color across a width of the tufting machine so that each color that may be sewn at a particular tuft location will be presented within that tuft location for sewing, but only selected yarn tufts for a particular color will remain in that tuft location, characterised in that feeding the backing material comprises moving the backing material through the tufting zone at an effective stitch rate approximately equivalent to the desired fabric stitch rate multiplied by the number of different yarns (Y1 - Y4) presented at a stitch location being tufted, wherein the stitch distribution control system is further configured to, when a color field is being formed in the pattern wherein one or more non-appearing yarns, which are yarns that will not be shown in the color field, would form tails of extended length that can later become caught or cause other defects in the finished tufted article: - control the yarn feed mechanisms to automatically run the yarns sufficiently to selectively form one or more low stitches in the backing material as opposed to completely back-robbing the non-appearing yarns from the backing material, in order to tack the non-appearing yarns to the backing material. at least one needle bar having a series of needles mounted therealong; backing feed rolls for feeding a backing material through a tufting zone of the tufting machine; a yarn feed mechanism for feeding a series of yarns (Y1 - Y4) to said needles; a series of gauge parts mounted below the tufting zone in a position to engage said needles of said at least one needle bar as said needles are reciprocated into the backing material to form tufts of yarns in the backing material; at least one shifter linked to said at least one needle bar for shifting said at least one needle bar transversely across the tufting zone; and a system controller configured to run a stitch distribution control system; wherein the stitch distribution control system is adapted to receive a pattern image and perform a series of pattern steps for controlling said yarn feed mechanism to control feeding of the yarns (Y1 - Y4) to said needles and said backing feed rolls to control feeding of the backing material to form the patterned tufted article, - control the shifting and feeding of the yarns (Y1 - Y4) of each color across a width of the tufting machine so that each color that may be sewn at a particular tuft location will be presented within that tuft location for sewing, but only selected yarn tufts for a particular color will remain in that tuft location, characterised in that feeding the backing material comprises moving the backing material through the tufting zone at an effective stitch rate approximately equivalent to the desired fabric stitch rate multiplied by the number of different yarns (Y1 - Y4) presented at a stitch location being tufted, wherein the stitch distribution control system is further configured to, when a color field is being formed in the pattern wherein one or more non-appearing yarns, which are yarns that will not be shown in the color field, would form tails of extended length that can later become caught or cause other defects in the finished tufted article: - control the yarn feed mechanisms to automatically run the yarns sufficiently to selectively form one or more low stitches in the backing material as opposed to completely back-robbing the non-appearing yarns from the backing material, in order to tack the non-appearing yarns to the backing material. - control the yarn feed mechanisms to automatically run the yarns sufficiently to selectively form one or more low stitches in the backing material as opposed to completely back-robbing the non-appearing yarns from the backing material, in order to tack the non-appearing yarns to the backing material.