Geri B

I press to one side, just how I started and it's now second nature.
My one concern about open seams is: if you're machine SID, because the needle moves faster than hand stitching, could it possibly "nick" the seam thread and weaken it and possibly cause that seam to come undone? Whereas with hand quilting that rocking motion would/could move that same thread to the side of the needle. Just a thought......

if one nests those side ironed seams at joining, or "fans" them open at multiple crossings, there's no more bulk than open seams. When sewing points, it's so easy to find the X and aim right for it! JMHO

AZ Jane

Same here, hand quilter, pressing seam open makes for less bulk when trying to cross seams. Not an issue with use a machine to quilt.

sewbizgirl

I press to the side so my seam intersections can "nest". It's also less strain on the piecing seams, in the long run. However sometimes, because of bulk, you have to press seams open to get the best results.

Mitty

I press to the side sometimes and open others. Usually I default to the side since I do a lot of stitch in the ditch, but if it's getting too bulky I'll press open. For a pinwheel, for example, I press the diagonal seams to the side and the horizontal and vertical seams open.

I also don't always press to the dark side. If something nests better pressing to the light side, that seems like a more important consideration. It doesn't seem to make any difference in how the seams show through. Honestly, I just press to the dark side most of the time because I don't want someone to see it and tell me I'm doing it wrong.

klswift

you should not press open if you plan on doing STID - you would be sewing on nothing! You can do a STID sort of if you sew 1/8" along side the seam.

fish92241

I have heard that when quilts were hand pieced they were pressed to one side to have stronger seams. But with machine stitched pieces, the seams are strong enough to be press open if you prefer.

RedGarnet222

It depends on the block design I am doing. If there are lots of bulk when pressing to one side, I press open or swirl the seams around all the same way. Sometimes you just have to use the to the dark side or shadowing occurs. I rarely stitch in the ditch anymore.

DresiArnaz

Depends on project and bulkiness of fabric.

One thing that strongly supports pressing to one side is the nesting effect. When you join four patches together you just butt the seams together. Makes the corners meet very neatly.

Claire123

My understanding is that pressing to one side makes the seam stronger. I only press seams open with paper piecing.

Sephie

I only machine piece and machine quilt. The first quilt I ever made, I pressed the seams open and when SITD, I could see some of the piecing thread in the seam. In the first washing, that quilt also busted a seam. I've pressed to the side ever since then and never had another problem.

Have heard great things about the clapper, but not wanting to spend money on another gadget, I found a great tip on a blog (which I can't remember which blogger it was so I can't give credit, sorry!) that if you put a stack of magazines on a freshly pressed seam, it gives a super flat press once the fabric has cooled. I sort of assembly line mine, where I can usually press 3-4 seams and have piles of magazines on each, and then rotate to move them off one by one to my quilting table to continue being flattened until completely cool. It's working out pretty well!