help please *first quilt*
 

Hi, i'm making my first quilt, a small one for my new niece or nephew. It was all going well and I planned to do a simple wide cross hatch to quilt it. I am using check fabric for the back. I have done the first direction of diagonals and it lined up well with the check on the reverse, but now I have come to do the next direction and the line it needs to take along the top will not follow the line of the check and after unpicking a few times i'm not sure how best to carry on! Any advice would be appreciated! Baby is due in a couple of weeks so it's a bit of a panic now, there's not enough time to go back too far! :-( thanks x

Not sure you will be able to perfectly follow the line. As most fabric isn't "perfect".
Have you tried turning it over and stitching from the back?

Push comes to shove, maybe hand-tied is the way to go.

Either way the baby and new mom will love it!

Welcome! It is rather difficult to get your stitching on the top to match something on the backing. If you really want it to match, either sew the next set of rows from the back or stick a pin from the back to the front where you want your line to be, and mark it on the front. Use the marks to plan your stitches. Make sure you use an appropriate fabric marker and test it on a scrap of YOUR fabric to make sure the marks will come out.

Most of the time, the quilting will not match on the backside, nor will anyone but you pay attention. We are our own worst critics. I would suggest that you do your quilting to match the front side and not worry about the back ....I know, easier said than done! Just make sure to check the packaging for the batting to ensure that your quilting lines are close enough.

Since it is a small quilt I would replace the checked backing with a print one. Then do your stitching from the top using blue painters tape to mark the lines. Also use a matching thread and the stitchingl not show up as much. Even with a solid backing the lines will show up a lot. That is not all bad if you want the quilting to be a design on the backing. Straight lines are usually hard to do even with tape.

I agree with Rose - the quilting on the back adds texture, but unless you are doing it in a strongly contrasting color, will not be particularly noticeable.

If your first stitches are close enough, just go with a diagonal pattern. As others said, no one will notice the back and once washed it is even less noticeable. The worse thing you can do is mess up the front to back the back better!

Welcome from central Alabama.

If your goal is to simply have straight lines, use blue painters tape and lay along your first line of stitching. Then stitch along side the edge. Move the tape as needed. I agree, with a patterned back, no one will notice the quilting. The most important thing is for it to hold up to being loved and used by a growing neice/nephew.

thankyou all for your quick replies,
I was thinking of just going ahead following the diagonal for the top of the quilt and it's reassuring to know that doesn't always match up with the back and that that's ok! You're probably right that the recipients won't notice that it's off, I was just stressing because it's a gift and i wanted it to be perfect. I think it's a little late in the day to change the backing fabric considering how long it has been taking me to quilt so far so i'll probably just carry on and keep the front straight and neat.
Thanks again for the help, this site is a useful little treasure trove!
x