How do you figure out which way to press seams?
 

Haha! You know how people are always saying they have a UFO and it shows how far they're come? Ok, I'm a member of the club now, too. The back of Name That Block is a mess of seam allowances going every which way. So here's the question: is there an easy way to figure out which way to press the seams? Or do I have to plan it step by step like the d-day invasion? I'm an overthinker, so I'm hoping someone will save me from myself. I'm starting to see why everyone likes patterns so much, lol.

I will watch this thread with interest. I can often work out the directions to press to get a block together but I can run into trouble when I start to join the blocks!

Is it better to join seams with the allowance going the same way and have a lump, or to push the offending allowance over and then have the seam allowance twist between each end IYSWIM?

Watch videos of quilt in a day, Eleanor burns, on YouTube......works for me!

Take a look at the front of the block and see if there are any paces where the way the seam alloance is laying will show through. Most of the time it won’t once they are pressed flat. So, unless those every which way seams are undeneath a very light colored fabric and will show through, I’d just get them as flat as possible and call it done. If you need to change the direction for some inorder to get the block to fit into a row, you caneither let the seam twist somewhere in the middle and then iron that flat (a hot iron and plenty of starch will do the trick), or you can clip the seam allowance where it needs to twist (just be careful not to clip the seam itself) so that each end can be pressed in the direction it needs to go for easier joining to the next block

when I have blocks that are a mess of seams i generally let the seams go where they want and use lots of starch to get them good and flat. If there are some places where many seams come together and create a lot of bulk that won’t flatten even with the iron and lots of starch, then I lay it on a board and give it a couple of whacks with a hammer which usually does the trick.

Once the seams are flattened, I give it another good press from the front. I do all my own quilting on either a domestic machine or my sit down Sweet Sixteen and have never had any prblem during the quilting process when a top has seams treated this way.

In my experience, unless there are dark seam allowances pressed toward very light areas, youkd never know that some seams were twisted once the quilting is complete.

Rob

That's one reason why I generally press my seams open. Far easier to deal with for me; flatter block; easier for me to match up seams/points.

I have always pressed to the dark, and still manage to get some that go north on one end and south on the other. Someone once told me not to stress over it, because once the whole thing is quilted, it will not show.

For me, if it's a simple block, I press to one side. If it's a more complicated block with lots of seams I always press the seams open. Saves time at the end when you are in the situation you are now in!!!! I too, learned the hard way!

I usually press to the dark, but sometimes, especially, on small blocks I do press seams open. Too much bulk is hard when quilting.

I experiment and use the best method for the piece I'm working on. Pressing seams open reduces bulk but on simpler things, pressing to the dark usually works fine. Nice to have those seams nest as you piece but it doesn't always work out that way--and that doesn't have to be a problem.