Above is a picture of a brown and green shirt I have in my Etsy store. It was done with the Mokume Shibori technique. It shows the different pattern depending on if the rows of stitching are offset from each other.

The brown rows were carefully stitched the same for several rows. This made the fabric pleat in a consistent way. At the edge of the brown I stitched exactly the reverse, to give change the pattern. Then I left about 2" and stitched the green area in a more random, alternating way.

So when you look at the pattern you can see where the stitches line up more, row after row, and where they alternate a lot more. Both patterns are nice. It gives a nice texture.

I suppose if I was really careful I could get something similar to a checkerboard. But I would also have to spend an awful lot of time getting the fabric to pucker right when I was pulling up the threads. You have to kind of work it a bit to get it to go nicely. And you don't want the sewing threads to sit on top of the fabric, it leaves little dashes. Some are good, but too many give a look that isn't what I'm trying for. Kind of like weeds are plants where you don't want them. They may be pretty, but only if they are where you want them.