March 23, 2017

Week 2: Long Time Gone SAL | Pressing Square Within a Square Blocks


Javajean asked a great question about pressing Square Within a Square: "Do we press all of those seams open?" I love it when people care about pressing -- It is so important! The short answer is yes, or no! The best pressing plan is to plan ahead as you begin sewing.

It would be great if every patchwork design had an ideal and obvious way to press. Square Within a Square does not.

This is the back of the block for my Long Time Gone quilt:


I joined the Square Within a Square units into rows and pressed the rows in alternating directions to create opposing vertical seam allowances. Opposing seam allowances abutt each other for "automatic pinning" (no pins required), which makes joining the rows easier and more accurate.  When the rows were joined, I pressed those seams open. Click on the photo if you'd like to take a closer look.

"On the other hand"... Here is an example of a larger size Square Within a Square piece where we pressed all of the seams open.


Regardless of your pressing decision, this is the perfect time to be thankful for the engineered corners on our Perfect Patchwork Templates that allow you to eliminate all the dog ears before you sew. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes when you quilt not having those extra bits of fabric at all the seam intersections!

In recent years, I've been pressing more seams open, but if you quilt in the ditch (on the seam line), pressing open really isn't a great plan -- you aren't always securing the top layer of fabric to the backing.

If you want to press seams open and quilt in the ditch, make sure you are sewing the block pieces using no less than 12 stitches per inch or 2 on a metric machine, or even 18 per inch or a 1.5 metric stitch length.

P.S. Yesterday's blog post includes a link to download a free pattern for making a 62-inch Square Within a Square quilt with Set B. 😊


Visit these other Long Time Gone Sew Along blogs, too, for tutorials, contests and other info:

http://gnomeangel.com

http://www.snipssnippets.ca

Use the hash tag #LongTimeGoneSAL to share photos on Instagram.



Long Time Gone by Jen Kingwell. Copyright 2016 by Jen Kingwell Designs. Available on the From Marti Michell website, www.frommarti.com
 




Long Time Gone by Jen Kingwell. Copyright 2016 by Jen Kingwell Designs. Available on the From Marti Michell website, www.frommarti.com
 

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