Diamond Crosshatching on home machine
 

Good Morning! I have a 55 x 65 quilt sandwich I am trying to diamond crosshatch on my Juki 2010Q. First, I read what threads I could find here and searched the internet for information on machine set up, direction to sew, etc. I lowered my presser foot pressure and increased my stitch length to 3. Although opinions were mixed on sewing in one direction or changing each time, I decided to sew in one direction. I found my center line and started to slowly sew with my walking foot to complete one half of the quilt at a time. I have used this quilt design on smaller projects with no problems, but this larger quilt is giving me trouble. Even though I am adjusting the quilt constantly to avoid drag, I am not getting as smooth a back as I'd like to see, and as I got closer to the corner, some tucks developed for which I had to do some pulling out. My sandwich is pin based, and I am following masking tape for my lines. Who would have thought straight-line sewing could be so difficult! Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks!

It sounds like you are doing all the right things. The only thing I would have done differently was to spray baste, That way the fabric doesn't move against itself. Also, I can't tell if you are going diagonally, if so, that will definitely cause more stretching.

Sorry, no help here except to perhaps spray baste next time.

Watson

Thank you Watson! I am going on the diagonal and never gave a thought to that being on the bias.

I've done cross hatching on several quilts - in fact, it is one of my favorites stitches when using my Singer 201 to straight line quilt. Like you, I use painters' tape and my walking foot. I lay the tape diagonally from corner to corner on the quilt. To make doubly sure it doesn't move, I also pin it every few inches. After sewing the first two lines, I have a big X on my quilt. For subsequent stitching lines, I just keep moving the tape over from the stitching lines made by the big X.

I always glue baste my quilt layers before quilting. I've tried other methods, but like the glue basting best because I never get any puckers in the front or back of my quilts. I put Elmer's School Glue in a carpenter's glue roller bottle and just roll it onto the batting, then smooth the quilt front onto the batting. I let that dry a few hours, then do the same with the quilt back. Carpenter's glue roller bottles are available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for that, Bonnie! I'm becoming very disillusioned with spray basting with the new iterations of the spray. I've tried glue basting with not much success. I'm ordering this... it looks great. A question, though. Do you wash the roller after each use and does the roller last a long time?

Thanks for the link to the roller bottles!

I too like to diamond cross hatch. I have learned a few things on this thread - thanks for posting. The bias never occurred to me either. I have used the carpenter tape, but I don't have much luck with it staying stuck. It just caused me a lot of proplems

BonnieJP - thanks for the link on the glue basting. That roller looks interesting and I have a couple of questions. Does the glue get stiff on the quilt after drying? I only glue baste, but I do get stiff spots. How much do you dilute the glue with water? 50/50?

Here's an informative thread from Tartan about straight line stitching that might help you.

https://www.quiltingboard.com/links-...g-t311590.html

I also find that if I remember to slow down and allow the feed dogs to do their job it helps keep the backing flat.

Diagonal Cross Hatching
 

Referring to my original post, if I am straight stitch cross hatching on the diagonal, does it make sense to change direction each row as I am stitching on the bias? Would it result in less stretching/puckering? Thanks!