I am working on some blocks that have flying geese border around a center square. After finishing the first block- I have alot of bumpiness from the seams not pressing flat. Is there a certain way I should be pressing the seams? I hate to keep clipping them.

Here is a method for flying geese that presses seams open

http://dottyjanedesigns.blogspot.com...ing-geese.html

I keep wanting to press seams open but the fear of quilt police makes me press to one side. I have read that it is okay to press all seams open and the other method is a hold over from hand piecing. Is there anyone out there who presses the seams open and what are your comments?


Rita

I have pressed seams open a number of times on quilts in order for the seams to lie flat. The quilt police hasn't found me yet! In fact, I don't even think about the quilt police anymore--it's my quilt and I'll do it my way. Now, the only problem I had when pressing them open was to make sure I backstitched at the beginning and end of the seam. I don't know if it's something else I did wrong, but seams that weren't backstitched starting to come open and I had to restitch each one.

I press my seams open most of the time, especially where I will have a lot of seams meet, like pinwheels and such. When attaching borders, I press the seams whichever way they want to lie.

It depends on the block you are working with. For OBW blocks, you need to press the seams open, too much bulk will accumulate otherwise. I sometimes will press to the light side, if I want that edge to be filled out, it just depends on the pattern being used. I draw a lot of mine from scratch.

How are the quilt police going to know once it's all sandwiched and quilted?

Quilt police, what quilt police? :):)

Your quilt, do it whatever way it helps the block/quilt lay nicely.

When I first learned to quilt the teacher said if you were going to press your seams open then use a smaller stitch so they don't gap. It has worked well for me, like deema said for the pin wheels to get the centers to not be so bulky.
Happy Stitchin' Linda B.