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Pressing Seams

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

29 Responses

  1. Marion says:

    about polyester thread tearing cotton fabric: this is a myth. Check out the vidoes done by Bob at Superior Threads.

  2. Becky says:

    Totally agree! Do what works for you, ignore the rest… same goes for child rearing I believe LOL!!! I love Mark Lipinski's take on it…"It's a BLANKET!" And loved the answer my only quilt teacher gave me when I asked her what type of thread I should use… She said "Use what you have".

    I used to do "false bindings" on all my quilts, where I wrapped the back around to the front, and after proudly showing my first big quilt to a quilt store owner, she made a bad face, and told me I "Did it wrong". Never shopped there again. What a slap in the face! It should above all be a fun hobby!!!

  3. Sherry says:

    Thts correct when I starting quilting the ladies that I knew would say REMEMBER there are NO QUILT POLICE. This I have always remembered.

  4. Teresa says:

    Yes! Finally someone who is strong enough to tell it like it is.
    As you said, there are no hard and fast rules. How can there be? When new products are coming out so fast, one has to try them or be left in the dust.
    Amen Leah!

  5. kwilterlady says:

    Yes, yes, yes to pressing seams open (properly). Results in much flatter quilts. Let the quilters who just want it quilted and done quilt in the ditch as they wish. Those who want to take the time to add a third dimension to their quilts will want to add more quilting, such as fillers you have shown to add stability to their quilts.

  6. Mishka says:

    I would definitely NOT ever stitch in the ditch of a seam that has been pressed open, no matter what thread I used. The seam is too fragile.

    That said, I rarely ever press seams open unless it helps to reduce bulk to do so.

    I am currently repairing an antique quilt that had all of its seams pressed open. What a mess. Not to say that it wouldn't have had problems had the seams been pressed to one side. It probably would have problems still, but I am so dismayed at how many of the seams have come apart by pressing open completely.

    Stitching in the ditch will not add any stability and will actually make the likelihood of pierced and broken stitches far more likely.

  7. Sue says:

    yay, finally someone with opinions the same as mine. I teach quilting and my students are finally coming around to my way of thinking about pressing seams open, but boy it's taken a while. Of course they can do whatever they want but when they try it and see the benefits they are converts. I couldn't agree more with the threads too. The old "everything must be 100% cotton" stuff drives me made. I mean really? You are making the quilt, make it how and with whatever you want, there are no rules.
    Thanks for all the inspiration, I don't often comment, but I am here all of the time.

  8. Leeanne says:

    Hey, great post with some very valid questions from your followers…I agree with you, there are no hard set rules…and there shouldn't be!Try what you think 'feels' right…if that fails, then try something else. It's like I tell my kids, Life is school, you think you've finished 'school' think again! You just keep getting lessons thrown at you…isn't that what makes life interesting?

  9. Lexi says:

    Leah, your work here is helpful & important. Older quilters are going to come at you with their rules & traditions, but you just have to let it go. Just tell them how you do things and leave it at that. This post was harsh & unnecessary. It pigeon holes people the same way others pigeon hole you. & none of that is right. Rise above those who try to belittle you.

  10. Tamera says:

    he he he LOVE the rant, lol.

    But, of course, we cannot follow your advice of not listening to anyone. If we don't listen to anyone, how will we learn new things to try to see if we like them better. 😉

    I LOVE your blog because not only is it informative, you are SOOOO generous with your time, effort, and advice.

    I've already learned SO much from you, and I'm going to try Isacord thread. I have about six or seven quilts that are basted and ready and I'm going to try the polyester thread and see how I like it.

    Have a GREAT day, Leah! You're the best!

  11. lw says:

    I think it all depends on what you're trying to create. If you're making a quilt to be high use, loved on and worn out in 15 years, you can use anything. And that's most of the quilts we make– we want them to be used and loved.

    If you want to make a quilt that lasts, though, you use natural fibers. The silk/cotton thread is archival (meaning it'll be here in a hundred or five hundred years, if the quilt is kept dry and stored safely.) Polyesters have acids that will eventually degrade and damage the fabrics around them. If you go into a thrift store and take a look at the clothes from the '70's and '80's you can see this pretty clearly– they have a feel and a smell that's unmistakable. So the higher price for silk or the annoyance of pulling lint out of your machine once every three bobbins for cotton may seem to be a small price to pay for a shot at artistic immortality.

  12. joulesB says:

    another article for consideration

    http://www.straw.com/equilters/library/techniques/SeamsOpen.html

    everyone has an opinion on this, and usually its a strong one. Everyone has there own personal tastes etc so everyone must feel free to do as they feel is right.

    for myself when i press to one side i get more mismatched and lumpy intersections than when i press open. when i press open my blocks lay flat, the intersections match up mroe often and theres no lumpy bits at the intersections, and the darker fabrics dont show through as they are pressed towards themselves.

    to anyone not sure of this method, i say try it on something small and see.

    too often i see people doing things beacuse its always been that way, sometimes you just have to break out of the box and see what you find.

  13. Liz I. says:

    If–and that's a big IF–one DOES want to use cotton thread for free motion quilting (and I have a project where I do choose to use cotton thread) then let me make a case for Aurifil.

    Aurifil has a 50 weight thread which is a dream to sew with. It's thin, smooth, strong and comes in a beautiful range of colors.

    I agree completely that there shouldn't be any rules about thread choice and that it should depend on the aesthetics of the quilt and the characteristics you want to emphasize.

  14. Yvonne says:

    Excellent post and I quite agree. 🙂

  15. Rachel says:

    Thankyou for this post Leah! I love it when people encourage others to "break the rules".

    I don't use cotton thread simply because the poly stuff is cheaper where I am, and I have stacks of it from my garment sewing – I just wouldn't have the space to store so many different kinds at this point. I always get frowned on in quilt stores when I say I don't use cotton thread. Why would poly be any worse than cotton anyway? It's what's recommended for garment sewing, so why wouldn't a quilt you want to be used be made with the same thread.

  16. Great blog. Seems like there are too many "rules" in something that is supposed to be fun. I agree with you that we should do it how we want to do it and the heck with the quilt police.

  17. O'Quilts says:

    I just love an open forum of discussion. And I am thrilled to be quilting in the time of freedom again…no rules..do what you want and what works for you.

  18. I actually have witnessed the damage polyester thread can do to a piece made with cotton fabric. A friend of mine brought me pillows made by her grandmother in the 70s and the strength of the poly thread had caused the fabric around the seams to pull and break down. Although I have to say i don't think the fabric was the highest quality but it certainly did show that it doesn't take 100 years to have an affect. I use poly, rayon etc. thread but I do keep in mind how much wear the piece is going to have etc. Same thing with pressing the seams to one side vs open. I think there is a place for everything – you have to put some thought into what it will be used for etc. and make those decisions on a case by case basis.

  19. Ethne says:

    All hail Leah – oh how right you are – I get by with what I do be it quilting, patchwork, spinning, crochet, knitting and now weaving and I go by what 'feels' right to me, with what I have to hand or can easily obtain – I don't believe in paying a fortune for something because it has the 'hip' makers name or because I've got to make a 160mile round trip to get it. For example I didn't know if I'd be able to use gloves whilst quilting so to avoid expense (in case it didn't work out for me) I bought a budget pair of ladies gardening gloves – the knitted type with a rubberised palm – OK the smell a bit but yes I can work with them and I can see a big improvement on my quilting skills and I've now got the option to look for proper gloves next time I'm in a quilt shop or stick with my slightly smelly budget format and get more fabric to play with.
    We each have options – succumb to the quilt police and maybe make our hobby more taxing and less enjoyable or go with what we are happy and comfortable with which gives us results in a timely fashion – eg: instead of just working on sample squares for FMQ I've started a leaf doodle in thread which I can make into a cushion panel or a QSYG lap quilt of leaf doodles on hand dyed fabrics (blogged about)

  20. lw says:

    One more comment just for the record. Your quilt will not be accepted by most museums unless is was made with all natural fibers.

    Your family and friends, however, will be thrilled with quilts made from anything.

  21. Flaun says:

    Oh, thank you, Leah! I've always used poly thread in my piecing, but cotton in my quilting because that's what I was told to do by an expert. Every time I go to pick up quilting thread, I gaze longingly at the color selection available in poly, sigh, and get as close as I can with the limited cotton spools. No more! I WILL use poly if I feel like it, darn it.

  22. Metanoia says:

    From what I have learnt, mostly from experience.

    Pressing seams open is fine. They were originally pressed to one side when they were completely hand sewn because pressing to one side made the seams stronger as seams sometimes pulled apart. Modern machines do not have this issue.

    That said, there is some piecing where pressing to one side makes it easier to accurately join and match seams.

    If you are going to press with a hot iron use cotton thread. Poly thread melts at high temperatures. This happened to me with some applique last week and I had to resew my work with new thread!!

    If you are not going to use a hot iron, poly thread should be fine.

  23. Belinda says:

    I agree with Leah – do what works for you 🙂
    I generally use cotton to piece and quilt- but I'm not yet doing free motion quilting – thanks to Leah I will be learning how to do that soon!
    I only recently started pressing some seams open – my blocks are miraculously more exact now.
    I used invisible thread – the good kind to quilt in the beginning but that thread DID shred my quilt 🙁
    I won't EVER be using invisible thread to quilt with again!

  24. Kristine says:

    I did not intend to sound like the "quilt police." I still hold that quilting in the ditch will be stronger over seams pressed to the side. But most people may not notice much difference. My son's quilt has been washed at least 50 times over the past year (don't ask – lol), and has held up well so far. I hope it will last a long time yet. If I had quilted it with another technique, I would not have cared how it was pressed.

    As for using polyester thread vs cotton – I think it is personal preference. My garments class teacher said to use thread weaker than your cloth. It's always easier to repair a seam than fabric. But to be honest, I'm not sure what the strength of the polyester is compared to cotton. For using polyester fabric, it's more of realizing that it won't shrink when washed like cottons will.

    Why do I bother writing all this? I think someone that is informed of the issues can decide what they want to do. There is not just one way to do this. I am excited to learn some "new ways" of doing things and trying it out. I hope others here are not afraid to experiment and try the "traditional" way of quilting as well as the "modern." There is value in both!

  25. Leah Day says:

    Kristine – You weren't being the "quilt police" at all, but asking a great question that sparked many new questions and opinion!

    I'm so glad that you commented and started the ball rolling because the real point of posting this whole extra article is to prove that, just like you said, there is no 1 single way of doing something.

    Cheers,

    Leah

  26. Megan O says:

    lol wow! after all these comments iii have no opinion to add that hasnt been well argued already except one. i disagree that stitching slightly away from the ditch "just isnt pretty". in fact that comment kinda infuriated me. both of my grandmothers as well as myself have won ribbons with quilts that were stitched slightly off of the ditch and yes, the quilts ARE very pretty thankyou.

  27. Kristen says:

    i'm just glad you finally posted on this subject! i have been curious about your reasoning for pressing this way for quite sometime, and e-mailed you about it once before myself… i'm totally new to quilting… when i first started playing with piecing some blocks my first instinct was to press my seams open going back to what my teacher had taught during some home ec. type class in high school. however when i started learning about quilting specifically, everything i heard/read had contradicted that instinct and taught "press to the dark" until i bought your e-book on perfect piecing… the rationale makes sense on both sides of the argument… i will have to play with this some and decide which i prefer… at any rate, thank you for your insight!

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