Butterflyblue

My forest quilt I pressed all of the seams open. I came from sewing clothing, where all seams are pressed open. But it was a pain with the smaller seam allowances. When I learned that quilters traditionally pressed to the side I converted to that and never looked back. Until now maybe? Because I’m reading on this thread that for mini quilts pressing open might help, and my mini blocks aren’t as nice looking as I’d like. So I’ll probably try pressing them open again soon.

cashs_mom

I only press the seams open if I'm doing tiny precise pieces. Otherwise I press them to the side.

I agree with Dunster. I use a very fine thread and feel that the seam is stronger when I pressed the seams to the side.

Macybaby

I press to the side almost always. I also own a LA and have not found this to cause any problems at all. And I make 20 to 30 quilts a year so it's not like I've only done a few. I also feel this makes for a stronger join once it's quilted. I do spin my centers most of them time to help caught down bulk, and will grade seams (trim one side smaller than the other) with micro stuff, and that happens most often with paper piecing where there may be a piece that is less than 1/4 inch wide.

It's nice that we can try new methods and see if we like them better than others. And different machines may work better with different methods too.

aashley333

I learned about pressing to side and nesting on this forum! Love this method! it is so satisfying when they nest together! I still press open on 8 pieced circle for kaleidoscope block. I agree with smaller stitching.

Onebyone

I piece with a 1.5 stitch length so pressing open won't weaken the seam. I don't have to backstitch using a small stitch length.

tropit

I usually press mine to the side, but I was recently working on a quilt where the pattern said specificly to press open, probably because there were lots of small pieces. I hated that! The seams were a PITA to open up and press and it was very time consuming. Also, it was harder to line up the matching seams. Augh!

Rebecca_S

I generally press to the side, I like to nest seams and can avoid a lot of pinning that way, and I get joy out of spinning seams. However if something won't go flat I'll press open.

copycat

Lots of good tips here when pressing the seams open...shorter stitch length for sure and a new one to me is using wonder tape to keep the intersections from moving since you can't nest seams that are pressed open.

I was wondering if anyone does both methods of pressing the seams open and pressing the seams to the side within the same block? We had a block exchange and I saw a block done this way. It looked fine in the quilt, once backed with batting and backing and quilted.

WesternWilson

When I can I press open. Why? Because I quilt my own quilts and the flatter the top the less it interferes with my quilting stitches. Pressing seams open keeps the work flat as possible. That flatness also betrays any errors in piecing early in the process so I can quickly fix what is wrong.

At times you do have to press to the side, and when that happens I don't obsess about it.

I do not nest seams. I don't think simply nesting is the key to good seam intersections, partly because the bulk of the pressed-to-the-sides seams interferes with the ability to see where the intersection is and control where it stays when the presser foot hits the fabric bump.

I have found I get much better results pressing open and pinning seam intersections with very fine pins.

Not every block needs to be precision sewn, but when they do, pressing seams open is a help. Nothing bothers me more than a work that should be accurate but isn't. We put so much time and $$ into our quilts, it is a shame when the workmanship undermines the vision!

I suspect there are a few reasons quilters fail to be accurate when they should be: maybe they don't know how, maybe they don't enjoy the process of construction (I love it so am happy to take the time), maybe they don't have the tools and/or setup to work comfortably and consistently.

All those things can be remedied.

aashley333

It is hard to press open a seam that is less than 1/4".
Even with nesting, I pin where seams meet. The seams simply must match! I have run into the problem of 2 seams going same direction, adding bulk.