Should I press my seams open or to the side?

Short answer: It’s up to you!

Long(er) answer:

It’s still up to you!

But here’s a bit more info on what happens when you sew with those different seam styles.

I am talking about the patchwork world when I discuss seam options.

So, back to basics.

What’s a seam allowance? A seam allowance is the part of fabric between your line of stitching and the raw edge of the fabric when you sew fabrics together.

The bigger the gap, the bigger the seam allowance and therefore the more fabric you loose.

In the quilting world a 1/4″ seam allowance is the standard.

Simple right, so whats the issue?

Well, the fabric doesn’t stay facing each other. You open the sewn pieces up and you have to decide what to do with that seam underneath.

Here’s your options:

Press to the side

Choose a side and press the seams that way.

Ideally the darker side if that’s an option but being able to nest the seams trumps that. Not much trumps a happily nesting seam for me.

When you press the seams to the side you loose a tiny tiny amount of fabric in the fold of the fabric and the width of the thread.

This isn’t much and if your whole block is made of just one seam, there’s no need to worry, but most quilts are made up of many seams and those little bits add up and can mean your block comes up short. Enter the scant 1/4″ seam allowance (more on that another day!)