Tonight is graduation night so I've got a lot to do and I'm afraid this is going to be a short post. This is my last child and then I will be an empty nester. I don't like to think about it because it's going to be weird. My baby is going to college to become an English teacher! And I will miss her like crazy.
I do have a question I've been wanting to ask you more experienced quilters though. It has to do with pressing. What has been your method of choice? Do you always press your seams open? Always to the side? A little of both? What is your preference and can you tell me why? I do so appreciate gleaning from those of you who have much more experience than I do and I think others will enjoy reading your comments as well. I realize that some are just going to say to do whatever works best for you, but I want to know what YOU do.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
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What a beautiful quilt! Regarding pressing seams, it is my understanding that pressing to the side is preferential for those who machine quilt--especially for quilting in the ditch so you don't run the risk of the quilting putting stress on an open-pressed seam. Alternatively, pressing seams open makes for easier handquilting. So, I guess it really depends on what type of quilting you are planning for a quilt!
ReplyDeletewell I've been quilting for over 30 years 20 of the last of those years I have been very active quilting. Up until the last couple years everything was done a lot by hand - pieces and quilting. When I make a quilt I try to decide in advance if it will hand quilted - if it has a lot of seams or heavier than usual fabric (like flannel) then I press seams open. If I think I will be machine quilting which I do now and then it doesn't matter to me as I have a strong machine and it seems to do well with seams pressed to the side. Sometimes I do a mixture press to the side but if there is an areas with a lot of seams coming together I try to press the blocks open.
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful quilt! I love the woven effect it has! I mostly press my seams to the side because it helps me match up seams betwen blocks so much better. I know there are lots of different opinions about that, though. Happy Graduation! That is a big accomplishment for both the kids and their parents - and a bittersweet time for us parents, for sure!
ReplyDeleteBig changes coming down the pike for your family, but it's all good! That empty nest means your little birds are really flying now. You must be so proud! :)
ReplyDeleteI tend to press to the side because I really like to nest seams when I can. It's so satisfying to get matching sharp points! If a block is really busy and bulky, though, I'll press open to get that nice flatness. I'm really bad at stitch in the ditch, and it doesn't seem to matter how I press, I still miss that darn ditch half the time. Sigh.
visiting from crazy mum quilts. Great to have the quilt completed for the wedding. Well done. I press to the side. I feel it is stronger when quilting done as there is no stress on the stitching that occurs when you press open. It is also waaaaay faster and I don't like wasting time when I could be sewing instead of ironing.
ReplyDeleteGreat looking quilt. Congrats on the finish of the flimsy. I seem to fall in with most of the other commenters. I press to the side when there isn't too much bulk because it helps me nest the seams together as I sew. But, if I have a pattern with lots of bulk where the seams meet, I'll press open. I also press open if I have really small pieces. When I do that, I tend to lower my stitch length to make tighter stitches that won't pop.
ReplyDeleteI mostly press seams open as I like a flatter look on the front and also the seam crossings go under my presser foot a lot better..(hate bulky seams--mostly because I cannot seem to handle them well) . I've tried both ways and prefer "open"--they still stay together when I've machine quilted...hope this helps--I do use tighter stitches also...hugs, Julierose
ReplyDeletehugs, Julierose
Your top is beautiful! Congrats on the finish, and on the graduate!
ReplyDeleteI press both ways. Sometimes open for greater precision, sometimes to the side for speed. I've been doing a quilt with a lot of tiny pieces and a lot of seams. Getting them to behave has been a pain. I started out pressing open, then just gave up. They are pressed to the side now. It all looks good from the front.
Wonderful quilt. Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and congrats on your finish.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the finish and on making your OMG for May. Hope graduation went well. Congratulations to the new grad and to Mom and Dad. It's no small feat to get them through high school. Our only graduated on Friday night too. I'll miss mine like crazy too when she's off to college, but I've been told that you get very used to it pretty quickly. I usually look at the pattern before I start sewing the blocks together and work out a pressing pattern so I can nest as many of the seams as possible. Nesting seams helps with my accuracy, or at least I'm hoping it does.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your finished top!! Pressing seams-I like to press to one side if I can because I like the way it nests and I have better luck lining up that way. Also because if you SID it works way better for that. SID with open seams is a nightmare and you can't stitch in the real ditch or it might break the seams thread. So yes it varies on what you are doing. Empty nesting was very hard for me, took quite a while to get used to it, I wish you lots of luck:)
ReplyDeleteYour quilt to turned out lovely Janice, I'm sure Casey will love it. Great question and I've been interested in reading all the replies. I more often press to the side too unless I have a specific reason to press open. I find the seams nest better and more precise and it is much quicker in the pressing too. I have only hand stitched quilt blocks once, my very first quilt which was a sampler, even then I was taught to press to the side as open seams are not as strong. I use a stitch length of 1.8 when piecing. Congrats to Ashley, and good luck to you, you are entering a new phase of your life, it will be different to the one which is finishing but believe me it will be just as wonderful.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do is press to the side, almost always. I was taught early on that pressing to the side prevented "bearding." Of course that was my grandmother's advice and she hand-stitiched her blocks. I imagine that it's not a porblem now beacause machines make such perfect stitches. Nevertheless, it's my way.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty amazed that you got any stitching done with your daughter's graduation happening. Take heart though, you'll enjoy a quiet house and time to sew....once you get used to a quiet house and finding stuff to sew. :)
Casey she quilt is just lovely! You did good to finish the top. Well, graduations over, whew! Those years sure fly by, don't they? I only had one, but I cried the whole summer because she was going off to college in the fall. It took me a couple of years to get used to it. I was a single parent, so I was all alone. With my sewing machine! It could have been worse!
ReplyDeleteWhat a good question. I used to always press to the side until I started working with smaller HSTs and the like. I can't sew a scant 1/4 for the life of me and always end up with a small block when I press to the side. So, when I press open, I find my pieces a bit more accurate and I like when the whole thing is nice and flat. I will still press to the side if the fabric really wants to go there though or if the pattern calls for it.
ReplyDeleteI iron to the side too. Congrats on your finishes...and welcome to empty nester life...it is wierd on the beginning but now I love it!!!
ReplyDelete