When to Iron
 

This is my first quilt so I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm following the yellow brick road pattern. I have my pieces all cut down, do I iron them before I sew them together? Or can I do it after? I mean, they are fairly small, some of them

I press my fabric after its laundered, cut, sew, press, finish the block, press it well and square it up before it goes in its place on the design wall. Sometimes the first press can be just a finger press if it's a simple seam, but finished blocks get well pressed and measured. If they aren't the right size, then they'll never go together correctly. There's no reason to press after cutting, IMO.

If this is your first quilt, remember to PRESS more than you IRON. To iron generally means back and forth motions. This can lead to wonky blocks. Experience is talking here! Try to press more than iron to keep your blocks square.

First and foremost. Welcome. I’m sure you will behappy you joined this group. The ladieshere are always helpful. <o:p></o:p>
You have asked a loaded question. There are many opinions, but the following iswhat I believe is the basics.<o:p></o:p>
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Set the seam. (Press, as opposed to iron, the sewn piece before you open up the sewn piece – it’s on one ofthe videos)<o:p></o:p>
<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Press to one side – you may have to give it somethought – usually to the darker fabric, but sometimes you have to press towardthe lighter so the seams are pressed in opposite directions for the next seam –also shown on one of the videos.<o:p></o:p>
I would suggest that you make sure that your seam is aquarter inch seam. There are ways tocheck. Do a search on the internet.<o:p></o:p>
Have a look at the videos below – hopefully it will helpclarify things.<o:p></o:p>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZHwOhNZB-4<o:p></o:p>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=9sw5QJr2mGw&NR=1<o:p></o:p>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBJkxabOwJ0<o:p></o:p>
Hope this helps. <o:p></o:p>

Welcome from WI. Press in the important part because otherwise you can really the fabric goofy after it has been cut. Good luck with your first quilt.

Don't press or iron your cut fabric now. Wait until you have sewn it to another piece of fabric. Then like amh said, set your seam, and then carefully, carefully, press the seam open. UP and Down. Sometimes I just fingerpress, so that I don't stretch things out of whack. Treat everything with care and you wont' have a problem.

I press my fabric before I cut, and then press as I add each piece. Don't skip pressing, you blocks will look much nicer properly pressed. I added borders to one quilt and my aunt took it to her longarmer but said she would press my last border beforehand, she didn't and now I have tucks on my last border.

I first starch the fabrics I'll be cutting at least 2 hours before I use it, personally I will usually let the starch soak in overnight, then will let air dry or put in the dryer for a few minutes, THEN I'll iron, after that, I don't IRON, I PRESS to set the seams, then I open the block up and PRESS the block.

All excellent advice that I won't repeat!

WELCOME to the QB

Nan

And I would also suggest using starch when pressing. I, too, press after adding each piece of fabric to my block. I prewash my fabric so iron when it comes out of the dryer with starch at that point. If you've not gone through that process then I would recommend using starch when pressing after adding each piece. The starch will wash out once you've washed your completed quilt so no worries there. And I'm not sure than one can ever have too much starch in fabric when constructing a quilt!