'Setting' seams
#21
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 11,276
It slightly embers the thread into the fabric. If you want to experiment, sew two test seams, set one, then try and unsew. It's harder to pick the threads out after they have been set, this is why I always check my piecing before I set the seam.
#22
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 4,134
Originally Posted by PaperPrincess
It slightly embers the thread into the fabric. If you want to experiment, sew two test seams, set one, then try and unsew. It's harder to pick the threads out after they have been set, this is why I always check my piecing before I set the seam.
You can feel the ridge of the stitches.
Now set them (press) with the iron.
You can now feel how they've sunk into the material.
Now when you goto either press the seams open or to one side, that ridge isn't taking up any room, and your pressed seam should be as flat as wallpaper (not to mention the correct size).
Now, if you've got a 12" four patch block....obviously, it's not going to make much of a difference.
But if you're making a 6" Ohio Star block - you can see how all those seams can effect the final size and stability of the block.
I don't even think about it anymore - I set everything.
#23
Originally Posted by MadQuilter
I generally set the seams. It straightens the seamline and flattens the piece.
#24
Originally Posted by Jim's Gem
I do this too. I think it makes it so the seam does not take up so much of the fabric when opening them up. It's only the slightest fraction of an inch but when you have lots of seams, they add up. So I set the seam then open and press to the dark side, or whatever side they tell me to!
#26
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 294
Originally Posted by babalu
I was watching tutorials on The Missouri Star Quilt website, and the women always 'set' their seams by ironing them before pressing them open. I was wondering what this does, and how important it is to do it. I've been trying to remember, but I don't really notice a difference when I forget. Any explanations?
When you sew a seam with cotton or silk thread, ironing the seam as sewn first lets the "folded" thread become flatter and crisper, so that it fits into the seam line better. If there are any minor puckers, setting the seam will also help get rid of them.
If you sew with polyester or cotton wrapped polyester thread, you won't see much difference. Polyester doesn't want to make a crisp fold (hence its use in fabrics that resist wrinkling) and you'd have to use an iron hot enough to physically melt the thread before you could make it hold the fold.
I sew with 100% cotton or silk thread and I see a difference in how flat the seam lies after I iron the seam allowances open or to one side if I set the seam first. Not a huge difference but a tiny difference repeated 20+ times across the width or length of a quilt will make a noticeable difference.
#27
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Myakka City Fl
Posts: 822
I try to remember to set the seam first which I do 98% of the time but by the end of a day sewing I'm getting tired and I find myself skipping that step. Then I usually pay for it later as something ( usually my sewing) is off a tad or two. One lesson is still being learned.
#28
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,325
I am used to setting the seams too. I watched a Missouri Star tutorial on U Tube, she said set the seams, then she said (if I remember correctly)...set the seams, I am not sure why. I think we all were taught this and do it, but do not know why. I do know it helps the finished block.
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