I'm a big fan of pressing seams open. It's so much better for accuracy when matching seams, and it reduces bulk. However, when I'm going to press seams open, I always reduce the stitch lenth, as well.

I heard that the reluctance to press seams open dates back to the days of hand-piecing (and larger stitches). Pressing those older seams open often led to the batting bearding out thru the seam.

Nowadays, however, most everyone machine pieces and the stitches are much closer together. Pressing seams open today doesn't leave much opportunity for batting to beard thru.

Plus, the battings are better and less apt to beard, anyway.

I find myself pressing open more seams and being more satisfied with how my points match.

BethMI

Hey, Anna! What has happened to your picture??

Lorchen

Pressing seams to the side often makes it easier to match seams by "nesting" the opposing seam allowances. It's also quicker than pressing seams open, but can make things bulky at times.

Pressing to the darker fabric prevents show-thru of the darker fabric on the right side of the quilt. If you need to press toward a white or light fabric, it's often a good idea (though annoying) to trim away the edge of the dark seam allowance so it's slightly smaller than the light seam allowance.

I often press seams open, too, especially when there will be a lot of seams meeting in one place, or if I need to see where the point of a triangle is.

You could also try Margo's seam twirl:
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2165062400102889971nRhUJI

Do it the way you want... rumors to the contrary, quilt police will not show up at your door.

I had always heard to press the quilt top seams to one side, toward the darker fabric. The other rule has always been to press seams on the backing open. I think nowadays quilters are more relaxed about the way seams are pressed. I usually press them in the direction and way that makes for a flatter block. Although, when I hand piece, I almost always press to the side.

I will often press seams open, but when I'm doing something that will require that, I shorten up my stitch length to about 20 stitches per inch. I think that hand-sewn seams would be weaker if pressed open, but don't see a problem with machine-sewn seams.

Pat in Rockport, TX

Lorchen

The bearding problem use to happen with the old batting...modern batting are much more stable, therefore there is little or no bearding even if you get holes in your quilt.

A lot of quilt teachers who do the detailed work with lots of seams .. ie mariner compass etc say to open us some of the seams.

try it and see if you like it...

Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle press the seams open on their quilts. I've done this with a few quilts where there would be a lot of bulk in the seams. Since I use cotton batting I'm not as concerned with bearding as if I were using polyester or a poly blend. The thing to do would be to test a sample to within an inch of it's life and see what happens. Meaning to wash & rewash and play with and wash and dry again.

Teri

I was told that if you press the seams open the chance of 'bearding' from the wadding is increased.

Lorchen

Usually the quilt pattern if you are using one will specify if you should press to the dark or press open or whatever. Usually by pressing in one direction it makes it easier to nestle the joining lines together and get more perfect matches between squares or triangles. Also if you press the seams open you have a weaker seam, and if you want to stitch in the ditch for your quilting you have the chance of breaking the original threads and causing a seam to come apart.

There are some quilt patterns that do specify that you should press the seams open because of the bulk when joining the Blocks.

Hope this helps you understand. Ann

Why are we told to always press the seams to one side? I realise that when you have a pale fabric shading happens, but I dislike the thick heavy lumps you can get when you start having multiple intersections and cross overs, and when you build up some pieced patterns you end up having the seams pressed to the pale side any way.

Any input to my query would be welcome
yours in the cause

Rosemary