Last year, we had an opportunity to interview Alex Anderson, star of Simply Quilts, during an Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation.
The subject turned to seam allowances, and how she pressed them. When asked whether she pressed her seam allowances to one side or open, Alex responded:
Alex: I press my seams to one side or the other, if it’s less than six seams coming together. I do not necessarily press light to dark or dark to light. You’re supposed to press to the dark. That’s what you’re taught. I press for ease of construction. You want it so the seams go in opposite directions.
Let’s say you are pressing too lightly. If you have aligned your seams properly, you’re not going to have a problem with the dark showing through because when you press it to the light you’re going to see the light from the underneath side.
I do press seams open under two occasions. When I’m teasing my backing, I’ll press it open if I’m hand quilting. I want an open seam so I don’t hit a big lump every time I get to that part of the quilt. Also, if there are six seams plus coming together, I will press open.
When you press open, you have to be acutely aware of the color thread that you’re using. Take your hands right now and put them in front of you palm to palm. Then open up your hands like you’re reading a book. Where your pinkies are touching each other, you will be able to see the thread going across there. That’s why it must match whatever the pieced units are.
Penny: What if you have a white and a black?
Alex: Then you have a problem.
Penny: You could use gray thread and adjust your tension.
Alex: Then grab your felt-tip pen and color it in.
Penny: That’s interesting because I never heard that rule about more than six seams coming together. That makes sense, because then you don’t have that big gob in the center.
Alex: Yes, like the LeMoyne Star. Remember, all rules are meant to be broken. These are just my general guidelines.
And “How do you press your seam allowances?”
Happy Quilting!
Penny Halgren
