Quiltingboard Forums - Hand pieced seams - press open or to the side

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Quote:

Originally Posted by GammaLou (Post 6178226)

Up until recently all suggestions were to press to the side, but I have heard several professional lately say to press open, especially where there is a lot of bulk. The press to the side was to put less stress on the stitching, but with the quality of materials today, I don't think it is that big of an issue!

Do it your way, it is your quilt!!

I always press to one side...if it is a joining seam of many parts...one can sometimes make a "spinner" I call it, out of that junction and relieves the bulkiness. If you hand quilt thru it it might be a bit tricky, but it can be done...machine quilting has not presented any problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jan in VA (Post 6178745)

I think we mostly began pressing the seams to the side in the days when we started frequently using polyester batting, because these often "bearded" through the seams when we quilted.

Bearding is when tiny little tufts of the batting comes to the surface of the quilt top and can be seen like little lint clusters on the surface of the quilt. Because the tufts are usually still attached to the batting in the middle of the quilt, it's hard to just pull or brush them off; they usually are best removed by cutting them at their base.

Jan in VA

I think if you have the opportunity to look at rather backside of old or antique pieces, either hand or machine pieced, you will see that the seams are pressed to one side. This was done before poly batts....the reason being that if seam is pressed open it is exposing the joining thread and that thread could be pierced in the quilting process, be it hand or machine quilting,and thus weakening or even destroying that seam by breaking that thread. This has been my understanding of the WHY....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jan in VA (Post 6178745)

Not quite. Bearding is when the fibers of the batting work their way through the fabric. It's not tufts but individual fibers and it gives a "beard" appearance.