majormom

press all the seams of your quilt top open! When all instructions for quilting seem say to press the seams to the side, the pattern I am about to start says to press them open to align the triangles accurately. The quilt will be made up totally of two different sized triangles.
Here's the problem- I just read the just other day that if the seams are pressed open you are apt to get 'whiskers' of batting sticking out through the seams. Don't want that!
So what do I do- use small stitches or line the back of the quilt top with something light to keep the batting from coming through?
Has anyone any other ideas? TIA for your help

k3n

You could shorten your stitch length slightly but I always press my seams open when making my kaleidoscope quilts with my normal stitch length and I've never had batting poking through. I think this advice comes from the days when everyone hand pieced...

Prism99

Just press the seams open and use a batting that won't beard. Hobbs 80/20 would be a good choice, or other primarily cotton batting. 100% polyester is the type that is likely to beard, and some wool battings will beard.

k3n

Prism's right, I should have mentioned that I only use blended batting - Quilter's Dream 70/20 as a rule. I guess a cheap poly might cause problems but I'd steer clear of cheap battings anyway.

ghostrider

Bearding seldom happens these days and depends entirely on the type of batting you use. It's much more likely to happen with quilting lines where you are sewing through the batting, than with pressed open seams where you are not. Most modern battings do not beard.

Candace

Follow the directions for the pattern.

Quilter7x

Absolutely. Some patterns like Hunter's Star have a very good reason for having the seams pressed open. Definitely follow the pattern instructions.

majormom

Thanks everyone for your input. I have every intention of following the pattern, but the pattern did not specify what type of batting to use. Therefore I really appreciate your help with this. The pattern also states to SID but I've always been told that to SID when the seams are pressed open can cause a problem with the needle cutting the stitch in the seam. So even though I think it would look really nice done that way, I don't think I'll do it that way.

ckcowl

if the pattern recommend pressing open that is to avoid the bulk where points come together, if you choose to ignore this and press to one side you will have problems with it coming together correctly. there are always exceptions to every rule and sometimes in quilting we have to press them open. if you are really worried about what little bit of batt may some day migrate you could shorten your stitch length giving a (tighter) seam...but i do not believe pressing open causes this to happen any more than what migrates through the stitching holes caused from quilting. in the 200+ quilts i have made i've never had batting migration be a problem. if you use quality fabrics and quality batting it is going to hold up for generations

Candace

There are lots of people with 'absolutes'-don't due this or.....do it this way only or...

You will not have problems doing SITD over pressed open seams. Your needle will not cut the threads.