Pressing Preferences

by the.weekendquilter September 6, 2020

Pressing seams tutorial pros and cons front to the dark side press open

Generally, quilters are in one team or the other when it comes to pressing their seams. Sometimes both. But it’s usually one out of the two - Team To the Dark Side or Team Open.

I consider myself as Team Open as you can see in the example above. However there is no wrong or right way when it comes to pressing. My philosophy is, you do you and as long as you keep it consistent throughout a project, you’re good.

If you’re unsure of which team you’re on, or you need a refresher on pressing preferences, here are some of the pros and cons for pressing to the dark side and open. But before we jump into those, let's go back to the basics:

Pressing seams open is to separate the seams and lay them flat in opposite directions on the wrong side of the quilt block.
Pressing to the dark side is when both seams are shifted toward the darker fabric on the wrong side of the quilt block.

Pressing seams tutorial pros and cons front back to the dark side press open

Now let's get on to the pros and cons:

	Pressing Open	Pressing to the dark
Pros	Seams lay flatter and crisper because seams are evenly distributed Easier to align seams for more complicated blocks where there are multiple seams / points that need to be match	Provide more enforcement and strength to the quilt long-term. Pressing to one side protects threads from catching on things that may cause pulling and fabric from fraying Seams do not show through on the lighter fabric Pressing process is easier and faster Matching seam intersections are easier and faster, if seams are pressed alternating
Cons	Quilt is more vulnerable to be damaged because seams are exposed Aligning seams can be more time-intensive and difficult	Bulky seams