Are you aware that there is a difference between ironing and pressing your quilting seams? That difference can result in skewed or uneven blocks. It is worth the time to learn the difference and implement it in your quilting process.
Pressing 101: How to Make Better Quilt Seams
What is Pressing and Why it Matters
According to The Quilt Show, the definition of pressing is “pressing the iron down, with or without steam, and picking it up before moving.”
“Before moving” is the key part of this definition. You place the iron down on your seam and leave it there for a few seconds. This way you are pressing the seam and not ironing it. Ironing requires moving the iron.
Why Should I Care?
Let’s go back to your block that ended up skewed. This is particularly a problem with triangles where you are dealing with bias. Your ironed block ended up skewed because your ironing moved the bias of the fabric.
As a reminder, “the bias is the diagonal line of woven fabric, where the straight grain and cross grain threads are at a 45 degree angle to each other.” This is a great definition from The Quilt Show.
The reason why this is a problem is because fabric cut on the bias has a lot more stretch than fabric cut on the straight of grain. This is the reason why skewed triangle blocks happen.
Press your Quilt Blocks
Now that you know something about bias and why skewed blocks occur, it’s time to start pressing your blocks instead.
As noted above, press your blocks by placing your iron on top of your block and leaving it there. You can add pressure from your hand, but be careful not to move the iron while doing so.
No Steam!
Something else to pay attention to, which may seem totally counter intuitive, is do not use steam with your iron. Like ironing, steam can skew blocks out of shape very easily. In addition, putting water in an iron, usually results in the iron rusting over time and springing a leak.
Tailor’s Clapper
If you find you are not getting the crisp blocks you want from simply pressing, add a tailor’s clapper to your supplies. Made of solid wood, a tailor’s clapper is placed on top of your freshly pressed seam and pressed down upon. I find using a tailor’s clapper with a wool ironing mat gives me great results.
My Final Thoughts
I hope you enjoyed Pressing 101: How to Make Better Quilt Seams. Pressing is the best way you can avoid skewed blocks. Period.
If you continue to iron your blocks, you will find yourself continually frustrated with your end result.
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