It Doesn't Really Bother Me
#21
I press to the dark also, but I can almost guarantee that I'll have a twisted seam in every project. That's my "creative" touch to my projects and I may regret this, but I've never had a problem because of it. Oh boy.
#22
I try to always be careful with my pressing and matching seams, etc. but these flipped seams seem to occur somewhere in each project. I am able to quite cheerfully live with it and have had no other problems from them. I do press them extra well to get them as flat as possible and make sure it's not visible from the top side. After that, I count them good as and move on.
I'm glad I have a nature that lets me do this.
I'm glad I have a nature that lets me do this.
#24
#25
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Blue Ridge Mountians
Posts: 7,075
I also press to the dark because threads from the dark seam can really show up in a light fabric. I do go back and fix any twisted seams when I find them in my final pressing. Twisted seams can cause a thread nest when you try to quilt the quilt. I just snip the few stitches at the problem seam and restitch the seam so it will lay flat.
#26
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 5,397
I think one of the best things we can do for ourselves is give ourselves a break, don't expect perfect, just do the best we can. I quilt and make garments. When I was doing civil war blocks, small ones I had to learn to quit expecting perfect and not only is it less frustrating and my seam ripper gets used a lot less, I sew more. I know people who don't do this and sew less because they don't think they are any good at it. You won't be good unless you practice.
One of my garment teachers who is know all around the world told me the best gift I gave my self was not to expect perfection and enjoy the process. If I look at a pattern too long I'll start thinking I can't do it but when I just do it, I usually figure out how to do the hard part or realize it wasn't hard after all. flipped seams are common
One of my garment teachers who is know all around the world told me the best gift I gave my self was not to expect perfection and enjoy the process. If I look at a pattern too long I'll start thinking I can't do it but when I just do it, I usually figure out how to do the hard part or realize it wasn't hard after all. flipped seams are common
#28
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Sonoma County, CA
Posts: 4,299
This is one of those "hidden" things that I use as a gauge for myself, to see if I'm improving.
My early quilts...the seams went all over the place - I was just happy if they held together and more or less lined up. It was totally beyond me to plan how my seams would lie. Twisted seams were totally normal - my way of handling those was usually to just open the seam up in the middle so it sort of gradually moved from one direction to the other, one half of the seam at a time, without a hard twist in any one spot. And that worked just fine, really. Heck, my first five or six quilts, I don't think I pressed them AT ALL before quilting them!
But nowadays I'm actually pretty good at planning out how I will press the block as I'm working on designing the quilt. Pressing and seam nesting is no longer an afterthought or based on luck, it's part of the original plan. As a result of that and paying close attention to my allowances as I'm piecing, a flipped seam like this is pretty rare for me! I'm actually sort of proud of the backs of my quilts now, all neatly pressed and organized and planned out nicely. Progress!!
I still just sort of make it work when it happens, though. (And it does still happen.) I can't think of a time I've un-sewn and redone a flipped seam. I rarely have white in my quilts, though, so that lets me get away with a lot, I think.
It's definitely a lot easier to press the back of a quilt that's had all the allowances stitched down in the proper direction. It's worth the extra planning just for that, if nothing else.
My early quilts...the seams went all over the place - I was just happy if they held together and more or less lined up. It was totally beyond me to plan how my seams would lie. Twisted seams were totally normal - my way of handling those was usually to just open the seam up in the middle so it sort of gradually moved from one direction to the other, one half of the seam at a time, without a hard twist in any one spot. And that worked just fine, really. Heck, my first five or six quilts, I don't think I pressed them AT ALL before quilting them!
But nowadays I'm actually pretty good at planning out how I will press the block as I'm working on designing the quilt. Pressing and seam nesting is no longer an afterthought or based on luck, it's part of the original plan. As a result of that and paying close attention to my allowances as I'm piecing, a flipped seam like this is pretty rare for me! I'm actually sort of proud of the backs of my quilts now, all neatly pressed and organized and planned out nicely. Progress!!
I still just sort of make it work when it happens, though. (And it does still happen.) I can't think of a time I've un-sewn and redone a flipped seam. I rarely have white in my quilts, though, so that lets me get away with a lot, I think.
It's definitely a lot easier to press the back of a quilt that's had all the allowances stitched down in the proper direction. It's worth the extra planning just for that, if nothing else.
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