I am trying to quilt a disappearing nine patch using diagonal lines through the corners of the blocks. My question is......I have always heard you start in the middle of your quilt and go out, but how would you do that with diagonal lines. Or should you just pin very well and start in one corner and alternate diagonals? Could really use your quilter advice.

Thanks-

Sheila

I'm still on the new side but if it were me I would ly out all of the lines and then starting from the middle I would quilt outward then spin it around and do the other half. Then lay out the other set of lines and since your fabric is already secured from the first round of quilting then I would just quilt it from one side to the other.

Billy

I'm no expert. I'm barely even a quilter, but on advice from the board I did the diagonal quilting on my bow tie quilt exactly as Billy said.

i pin and then do the lines from corner to corner

I do corner to corner on my lap quilts, but I starch both top and bottom, use basting spray, and pin here and there for added security.

Thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate it!

Sheila

Hi Sheila,

When I quilt diagonal lines on my quilts, I first put a strip of painter's tape (the blue stuff), from one end, like top left, to the other, bottom right. Once I've quilted that line, I take up the painter's tape and reposition it along the opposite corner to corner diagonal line of the quilt. This makes an 'X' across the quilt.

Once I've done that I just keep repositioning the tape from these center lines out the way out to the outer corners. Repeat for the opposite side. I learned this technique from Harriet Hargrave's "Heirloom Machine Quilting" book, a must have, I think for any aspiring quilter.

NOTE: For a rectangular quilt, you can make two 'X's over the quilt top. Hope this makes sense.

Have fun and keep us posted.

Happy sewing,

Karla in CO

I love blue painter's tape. So many uses for quilting.

I am glad to hear that the way I have been doing it is the popular consensus :D:D:D After I make the first big X I lay it down and check to make sure the basting spray is holding and that it is looking good...then I quilt on :D:D:D

I start in the middle and quilt on the diagnal from one end, then go back and finish from the middle to the other end. Once I have the main diagnals done, I don't worry about it and just start wherever it is most convenient. I haven't had any problems with my quilts not coming out square so I figure it works well and since it works, I'm afraid to mess with it.