Whigrose

Ditto what those before me have said. I chain piece when possible, 'set' every seam, then press the seams to one side.

best,
d

nycquilter

pressing as you go keeps things more accurate, more square. I am a tad compulsive and will also measure after ironing and then trim as needed. The benefit is a square completed quilt.

Silver Needle

I bought a little travel liquid hair spray spritzer from Sally's Beauty Supply then fill it with 2/3 Best Press & 1/3 water. The little sprayer holds only 3 oz. It doesn't spray all over and waste the Best Press. A little spritz on the seam & press. The seam lays perfectly. Also from what I read here on the forum I am going to use a small stitch length and start pressing most of my seams open. My sister-in-law whose grandmother was a big quilter said that is how her GM always did her quilts.

Rebecca_S

Especially when pieces blocks into rows/columns or for blocks with a 9 patch base, I tend to sew as many parallel seams as possible before pressing. However, if the seams cross I press before attaching new pieces.

Olivia's Grammy

I do the same thing, except my ironing board is in the same room, just not close to the machine. What's DVTs?

tezell0801

I think DVT's are "Deep Vein Thrombosis ( Blood clots).

Thanks to all of you for your tips and advice!

SunlitenSmiles

press to set the seam and then press to the dark side or press open depending on result desired

the iron is your friend and greatly improves the accuracy of blocks. pressing is an up and down motion very different than ironing

happyquiltmom

My sewing studio is upstairs, I keep the ironing board downstairs, so that I get a little exercise when I sew!

When I press, I finger press first, make sure that the seam is straight, then using steam and Mary Ellen's, I press with no "wiggling". The iron goes down on the seam, but does not scootch back and forth.

SandScraps

I also press after every seam. I've set up an ironing board right next to the sewingtable, so it's just a quick swing, press and carry on. It breaks my enthusiasm for a project if I have to spend a long time sewing at the end - not to mention all the seams that changed direction because they thought they had the right to choose.

annthreecats

Ditto. I press after every seam.