Originally Posted by peacequiltingnana
I've always been taught to press my seams toward the dark fabric. I'm currently working on a quilt where I'm pressing the seams open and it's really coming together nicely. Do any of you usually press your seams open? Is there a reason you shouldn't?
People who think handsewn seams are weak haven't ever worn a dress with a hand-picked zipper! Or checked out the interior of a bespoke (men's) suit jacket (almost completely handsewn with very little machine sewing except for the topstitching). Handsewn seams are plenty strong, particularly in an application where the layers of fabric will be quilted together, which is the classic way to stabilise anything.
The only reason to press to one side that I've read that makes sense to me is that if your batting has a tendency towards bearding, the gaps between the stitches are always bigger than the gaps between the threads in the fabric.
Since most battings of reasonable quality these days don't beard, I think seam allowances should be pressed whichever way makes sense in context.