Pressing seams open?
 

Hi - I made a couple of flannel quilts last year and the instructions said to press the seams open instead of to one side because of the bulk of the fabric. With my next quilt (not flannel) I again tried this method and found I much preferred pressing the seams open - it make the seams and squares lie flatter and as with the flannel, there was less bulk. In general it looked neater.

Is there any reason why one shouldn't be pressing the seams open? I understand how pressing to one side when sewing the seams together can be helpful in that the seams fall together nicely (though I still end up with a lot of intersections that don't match and I usually end up basting all the intersections before sewing up) and I'm thinking pressing to the dark side is supposed to eliminate dark fabric showing though (but I didn't notice this happening in the one quilt I made with seams pressed open).

Does it affect the workmanship at all? Does pressing to one side make for a stronger seam? I really want to press open because it seems to work for me but if there is a good reason why I shouldn't I won't do it. Let me know what you think!

To the side... keeps batting from coming up through the seam. Also makes it easier to fix a tear. But I agree there are times when the bulk is too much and open works better.

The only time it would cause some difficulty is if you stitch in the ditch. There will be no fabric to stitch over, just an open seam, and the stability of the stitch will be compromised. Otherwise, I don't see a problem with it, although I prefer to press to the dark side :)

I pressed all seams open when I made a Hunter's Star quilt. This is the first quilt I've ever pressed all seams open. It was a pain in pressing, but so worth it when sewing the blocks together.

I press seams open on virtually all of my quilts and have yet to have an issue. I don't machine quilt - I'm a hand quilter so usually want my quilting to show up so little to no SITD for me. I've also never had an issue with batting coming through the seams even after repeated washings. I find seams much easier to match and points lie flatter with open seams.

There are many top award-winning quilters who press all their seams open. I agree with Wholeheart Mom that the primary benefit is for those of us who quilt on a DSM, it creates a ditch. Whether it makes your seams weaker is up for debate. Quilters (like Leah Day) who do press open all their seams seem to use a shorter stitch length to help make up for the fact that the seam is pressed open. Like Mrs. Day, I came from a garment construction (& home dec) background so I was accustomed to pressing open seams. I try to press to one side now, but my original quilts were all done with a 1.4-1.6mm stitch length. So far, none of them have had any issues with the seams including my table runner that got heavy use & regular machine laundering for probably 7-8 years.

EDIT: wanted to add that the one other benefit to pressing to one side is that it's slightly easier to unsew SID quilting stitches without accidentally grabbing a stitch from your seam. I very, very rarely unsew but that's one possible issue I've had in the past once or twice.

Oh I never thought of that....love learning new things from you all....

There is always a threat that your batting, especially if you use the cheaper grade, will migrate thru between the seams and you will end up having fuzz on your quilt.

As a longarmmer, I prefer seams pressed to one side if I need to Stitch in the Ditch. It is much easier to stay in the ditch because of the slight hump created by the side that the seams are pressed to. I then stitch on the lower side.

I press my seams open 95% of the time. I never thought if there was a reason not to. I do it because it makes pieced blocks easier to match seams.