Tartan

I avoid pressing open on quilts. I did my Spiderweb quikt top last seam where all the pieces met open and when I quilted it the seams opened enough I could see the stitches. I didn't like that!

joe'smom

My understanding is that pressing to one side carried over from the days when piecing was done by hand. With hand piecing, you have only a single thread running up and down through two layers of fabric, rather than a top and bottom thread for each stitch. This means there is an actual gap for batting to come through if a seam were to be pressed open. Pressing to one side covers the gaps in a hand running stitch.

That said, I love the sturdy feel and neater look (on the back) that pressing to one side gives a quilt top, and I find I get better (and easier) seam matching when the seams nest.

tessagin

I don't do the normal SITD. My neighbor taught me "up on the bank" just about an 1/8-1/4 inch away from the ditch. Doesn't matter how you press.

Kitsie

I press my seams open, too. With a little Elmer's glue dot on one side, I put a pin through the seams and press with my iron ( a small iron works well). Works very well and goes faster than it sounds.

Never have had a problem with SID.

KittyD

I am taking Leah Day's block of the month and she recommends setting your stitch lengthy at 1.5, which makes a very tight seam so STID is not a problem. She also recommends pressing the seams open.

MeadowMist

Thank you all for your input. Most of my quilting is SITD as I don't have a long arm and I'm not quite ready for free motion. I never thought about that affecting how the seams are pressed so I'm glad I asked. It's good to know that pressing open isn't all that unusual. Thanks

joyce888

I press my seams open. I like the seams to be as flat as possible. Also makes less bumps when long arming.

quiltingshorttimer

On the long arm, if the seams are open, or aren't laying just to one side, and you are SID, it will cause the SID to jump over a bit at that point.

One thing I've seen is on Sewing with Nancy where she uses lots of steam and then a wood clapper to set those seams nice and flat. I don't have the wood clapper, but it's on my wish list. Also, if you use something like Best Press when you press the block, it seems to get it flatter too.

fivepaws

You mean the quilt police won't get me? Your post is so affirming. From now on I will press seams open. I hate all that bulk.

JENNR8R

I prefer to press seams open. I don't use patterns that tell one which side to press a seam. When I try to press to the side, I always end up with seams that should have been pressed the opposite way.

Always pressing to the dark side ends up to be wrong with the construction of some blocks. That results in seams that are twisted. I just eliminate that problem with pressing the seams open and shortening the stitch length to 1.5. I haven't had any problems doing it this way.