Would it be okay to post the fronts and backs of individual blocks on this thread, also?

How a block is pressed does make a difference.

Excellent question/suggestion.

I've found a medium greenish-gray thread disappears into almost all colors - except for the very light ones.

I think this is just what I needed to see right now!!!! My daughter-in-law has just finished her first
quilt top and I have been helping her iron it. I seen on her top where her seams are here and there. No
order and it looks raggy, but I know once it is quilted no one will know this. I need to tell her to be very
careful when she sews her seams and presses them. These pictures I am going to save and show her
exactly what she needs to do without me having to tell her and maybe hurt her feelings. (you know us
mother-in-laws)!!!

I don't match my thread to my fabric, I want a nice neutral color that goes with everything. I use beige. Some people like gray.

Thanks for this thread. My question to go with this is: When you have pressed the blocks and go to sew them together and nest the corners sometimes they were pressed in the wrong direction to nest them when the strips of blocks are sewn together - how do you avoid this?

I'm a hand quilter so I can spend a lot of time pressing seams, trimming errant seam allowances to prevent shadowing, clipping threads, etc. Based on a chosen quilting design, I may need to repress to accommodate the design, flipping the seam allowances into the opposite direction so I do not need to quilt through them.

I think this is a great idea -- especially for those who are new or hand quilt. The way we press the seams is so important to the way the finished quilt looks. I shall bookmark this and next time I do a project -- big or small -- I shal take pix and post
Mim

I take a long hard look at blocks and strips before I press so I can make sure to have "most" seams lock. It was really essential when I was making a bargello with a zillion tiny pieces. I would have been lost if the directions hadn't been so clear as to which way to press.

That said, sometimes I do have to make a tiny clip close to the seam so I can press the end of a seam the other way. Mim

you square your top by making sure your edges are straight- sides and top/bottom===the quilt is generally trimmed/squared after quilting- but needs to be straight for long-arm quilting so when it is loaded on the rollers it rolls up straight- otherwise it will (feed) crooked and you could run out of batting/backing--generally if you trim/ keep things straight as you create your top- it will be straight enough for quilting
about the gray thread---light gray on light fabrics, dark gray on dark fabrics---blends in and pretty much goes with anything---keeping you from having to change thread colors all the time- if you simply use a (neutral) like gray- it almost disappears.

Oh, that makes sense. I kept thinking that it could be trimmed after they were done quilting.

Any other suggestions?

I preety much use ecru or white