I have recently shared with everyone my difficulty with working with flannel. Wow. Lesson learned! so snuggly, but so stretchy and weird!

I am going to start on my diamond quilt soon and I was feeling really good about it, but then a friend mentioned last night that sometimes with the diamond pattern people have trouble with the grain of the fabric stretching and being strange.

I was planning on using some cotton batik and hand dye for the diamonds and then some green hand dye for the piecing.

Is there any particular material you all would recommend as being most easy to work with, or a brand that is "worth it" to stick with for the whole thing?

Since it will be a very big quilt....I dont want to spend a lot of money and find I have fabric that is not up to the job!!!!!

Thanks!!!

Prewash and starch it alot so there is minimal stretch. Use a high quality cotton fabric. Try a couple of pieces before cutting for the entire quilt to make sure it will go together correctly.

The stretchy seams happen when the bias is on top and drags against the foot. Two bias pieces are difficult so match a bias with a straight of grain.

Plan the entire star with a straight grain edge next to a bias edge. Cut your diamonds so that two sides are on the straight of grain. When you sew two diamonds together make sure to have a bias edge and a straight edge. Put the bias edge down next to the feed dogs.

FYI: this technique can be used when sewing a longer piece to one that is a bit shorter. Also known as 'easing'.

I heavily starch my fabric, let it dry and then press before cutting. I seldom have any problems with the bias this way :D:D:D

I've found that batiks are really easy to work with because the tight grain of the fabric increases their stability.

I personally like the flexibility of minimal stretch used to advantage.

thanks for the replies!

Also, I really dont want a whole lot of chemicals in the quilt (some of the starchign products are really chemically.

Has anyone used A mix of cornstarch and water for starching?