Originally Posted by teddysmom
Originally Posted by NJ Quilter
I use stencils all the time. They are wonderful. For the most part I've gotten away from SID quilting for this very reason. Also another reason I press my seams open. I try to find stencils that are complimentary to the quilt, either flowing or boxy - you get the idea. Now my latest quilt was a table topper, carpenter's star/wheel and the fabrics were very bold. I just wanted the quilt pattern to speak so I only did SID. Painful but what I wanted for that piece.
All advice I've ever gotten is NEVER press seams open because it weakens the seam when hand pieced. Do you have any problems with that?
I typically machine piece my quilts. I've never had an issue with the seams being pressed open. Neither with weak seams or with batting coming through. Hand piecing may present other issues. I've only hand pieced one quilt - a tumbling block and did english paper piecing with it so the seams were done to the side on that one.