Iceblossom

I've pressed open for years, I also strip piece whenever possible so I'm cutting through seams on a regular basis. I've found for the best results your stitch length needs to be on the small size, not tiny but not huge.

The defaults on most modern machines are a little too large most of the time in my opinion. If you can pull away 3-4 stitches at the top of your seam you need to make them a tad smaller. The Bernina I've been using for the last year fooled me at first, it starts out with a smaller stitch. But when I've made my subcuts I've been having more problems with stitches coming loose. It's not the tension, it's the being cut.

So -- next question from me, how do you put on your sashing?

I used to make columns of my blocks with sashing in-between and then a long unwieldy length of sashing along the length. What I've found works better for me is I put the sashing on all the blocks as an L shape first, then once I have the layout determined finish with the top and final sides on the blocks that need them. Then I just assemble the columns and put the top together trying to keep the pieces as similarly sized as possible while I do it. When you make the column for example, you want to put together a 3-set of blocks with a 4-set of blocks to make it 7 blocks long, you don't want to sew 1 block to 6 blocks. Your results will be straighter and it will be easier to sew.

toverly

I'm a spinner. I dislike open seams. I just like the fabric to nest for extra security. As Iceblossom, I love to self sash blocks instead of dealing with one long sashing strip.

QuiltnNan

I agree. My Juki F600 default is 2.4 . I almost always change it to 2.0. I have not explored whether there is a way to change the default.

Moira in N.E. England

Interesting comments about sashing.

I join blocks vertically first to make strips then join these with horizontal sashing. My little charity quilts are rarely bigger than 40” so they are not to difficult for me to handle but I can imagine that on much larger quilts this would be a problem.

Iceblossom

Hey, Moira, a little off topic but wanted to mention I'm making a top based on the picture you shared a couple of weeks ago made with bright 5" charms and white. I was gifted a box of pre-cut squares in various sizes and themes with a lot of bright bold juvenile prints and used your project as inspiration. I'm keeping with 30 focus squares but mine are 6.5" raw edge. Since the sashing doesn't need to line up I'm also using 6" blocks to cut down the sashing, they will all be consistently 3" raw wide even if the length varies a bit.

So my top will be quite a bit larger and may be an awkward size and may require an extra row or something. Haven't fully visualized the finished top, this is one of my slice and dice projects and I'm trying to break free from my usually tightly controlled self to just roll with the punches, or the gift fabric as the case may be. However it turns out, I'll let you know.

SandyinZ4

This was an excellent topic and I learned so much my reading everyone's opinions. It is so good to see both sides and how each one might work in a different situation. Thank you all for being part of this wonderful group and taking time to explain in detail the whys and hows to do it your way.

oldmanquilts

Pressing to one side does nothing to add strength to the seam. You still only have two pieces of fabric joined by one line of stitching. Tug on the pieces and you are pulling on only the stitching either way. To add strength to the seam one needs to topstitch next to the original stitching so the stress is shared by two lines of stitching capturing both pieces

sewingpup

Hi,

I do sometimes spin the four patches....that way they will always fit nicely when stitching them together and you can turn them anyway.....I also am not found of pressing seams open....I think it makes the pieces easier to come apart. I find using a shorter length stitch...usually 1.8 or 2.0 on my machine works well....and I tend to use a shorter stitch when the pieces are small and there are many of them....find the block stays together better...I also staystitch about 1/8 of an inch around bigger blocks with many pieces to keep seams from popping open as I always do around the whole quilt top when it is done. I do my own longarming and consider how closely I plan on quilting when done....which is the reason I am not a fan of pressing open as I like to quilt further apart then most show quilts....It gives the quilt a softer feel without so much stitching....I am more likely to hit a seam that is pressed to one side more than I would a pressed open seam to nail it down.....Lin

charlottequilts

I am always afraid that taking out stitches for spinning will make it weaker. But perhaps the solution is in what Patrice said about reinforcing the beginning and end of the seam (I am guessing backstitching, something I am terrible at.)

hugs,
charlotte

mmunchkins

What is spinning?