Help my French Braid always goes crooked
 

I can't figure this out. I made a french braid table runner and had no problems. Then the second one kept going crooked. I ripped it out and the second time wasn't as bad but I could still see it was crooked. And one end was worse than the other end. What am I doing wrong? Can't understand why it worked fine the first time and the second one was always crooked. Sorry I can't give a pic. It's already been given to my mom. Thanks for any advice.

Maybe using a foundation, like muslin for crazy quilts,will help. Good look. I'll have to try making one.

Oh, forgot to say, I was trying to quilt as I was making it. So I had the batting and backing all there together. Not sure if that makes a difference or not. I did pin too. Should I have made the top, using the backing, then sandwiched it?

So you were doing it QAYG (Quilt As You Go)?

I would suggest drawing a line on the batting straight down the middle - that way you have a guide to make sure your placement of each piece of the braid is always perfectly centered.

That would work especially well if you're using cornerstones up the middle.

I did this when I was making a Judith Larzelere-style quilt - it's also QAYG, but I needed those guidelines to keep the piecing (and quilt sandwich) from going all wonky on me.

Another source of the problem could be the type of batting you are using - some stretch more than others, and all that handling can have an effect.
I only use cotton for QAYG.

I was using poly. Thanks I'll try that next time.