Welcome back to Vals Quilting, today I want to talk about pressing seams open or to one side. 

I was taught to press seams to one side generally to the dark and to nest the seams when connecting blocks together, this seems to be the proper way or the way most quilters sew.

A year or so ago I was reading about quilters starting to press seams open, then I was struggling with a complicated block and my friend Beth said to press my seams open and boy did that ever make a difference. Less bulk, it lays so much flatter especially when you have multiple pieces.

I also had the privilege recently to take a lecture or two and a workshop by Fun Quilts, Bill Kerr and they press their seams open and always have. They do this to relieve bulk. If they have no concerns about pressing their seams open and commissioning their quilts in upwards of $5000K they must be onto something....

There was some debate recently at a quilt guild meeting regarding this. One lady mentioned that pressing the seams open may make the seam vulnerable, another person agreed but if you think about it, Seamstresses and Sewers press their seams open all of the time to relieve bulk. Some sewers will finish their seams in  "french" style or zigzag over the seam allowances to ensure they are secure or even use a serger so the seam allowance doesn't become frayed. You likely wouldn't use a serger when quilting because this will definitely add bulk to the seam and plus you will be quilting through all 3 layers to finish the quilt and secure the blocks in place at the end.

I was taught to sew pressing the seams open, thanks Susan.

I was taught to press my seams to one side when quilting, thanks to all of you quilting experts and teachers out there :)

I've decided to press seams open and or to press in the direction that will make my block sit flat and to reduce bulk, if that means to press to one side, I will do that, if that means to press the seam open, I will do that.

Since I've started teaching with Chinook Learning Services, I've decided to teach my students to press their seams open, so far :)

What do you do? Press Open or to one side and Why?

Until next time, have a happy and creative day!

First I want to report on my AWESOME first class. I have 7 students and I think this is my calling...for real, I love being able to pass on my knowledge of this wonderful textile art to anyone who wants to learn it. So Yes, I'm loving teaching!! More reports will come :)

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For today I would like to inspire you to freshen up your ironing boards with a new cover or two...now that I'm in my new studio space my DH needs his own iron and board so I've ordered a new iron and bought a new board...here's the iron it's a Sapporo Gravity Feed. Has anyone used one of these before? I've heard wonderful comments on them, I'll do a video when it comes in for you all...

Since my old ironing board looks like it should go into the garbage can, here's the before picture but please don't tell anyone!!

Onto the Ironing Board Cover Tutorial...

I've done two covers, here's the first one, the second one I'll show you all next week as it's the one I did for myself and it's adorable!!!

Here's the colours I picked for DH's board well he actually picked them as he didn't want me to pick "cute" stuff, lol.

these colours are from the new Metro Goes Au Natural Line

Here's his finished board cover

 get out your ironing boards ladies:

Measure length and width adding 3 inches.

For Jeff's board I wanted the stripe going lengthwise I used 59" of fabric (1/2 length of 1.5 yards) for the length x 14" width which is the exact width of the top at the widest point and 3- 4" WOF 3 for the polka dots border around the perimeter.

lay your iron board on top of the center main fabric in this case it's my stripe!!

trace around the board to get the perfect shape.

As you can see I left the cover on I prefer my ironing boards to have good padding when I'm pressing and so does my DH - but I think it's because of me :)

cut around with a nice sharp pair of scissors so your lines are excellent,

now add your border print - polka dots in this case, pieces all sections together so you get the entire perimeter around the board following the curve

start on the bottom square edge, follow all the way around the curve then down the other side stopping at the square edge, trim so it's even. Then take the remaining fabric left over of the polka dots and sew directly across the bottom.

Because you are following the curve shape this will help hug the ironing board.

I like to test things as I go, so I've laid it out onto the board to see how it looks, cute eh?

Next cut out a layer (or two) of batting this helps absorb the steam and provides good cushioning

I wanted a good casing for the ribbon, so I thought about what would make a good casing, I decided to use binding...so cut 2.5" sections out of main fabric enough to give you the entire perimeter around the board. I used double fold standard binding techniques...here's a tutorial on binding to help you out.

Attach your binding to the perimeter starting at the center on the rounded end because this is where you want your tie to be, unless you want it on the other end, you decide, other way start in the middle.

sewing the binding to the top of your ironing board cover, start by folding the edge under so it's finished, backstitch a few times to ensures it's stable, sew all the way around until you meet up again, cut away access after you provide yourself with a bit of fabric to turn under.

here's the view from the right side.

 Now what we need to do is turn this under again to provide the casing for the ribbon, make your seam allowance almost an 1/8" because you want to have as much of an opening as possible

same thing as before, follow from the center all the way around to the center, backstitch

Find a nice long ribbon, shoe lace, fabric pieces, something with a small width as you only have about 1/4" to pull whatever though, add a safety pin to the end, make sure you can get the safety pin through the opening

Feed it all the way through, your hands will start to fill it when your done as it's a bit of a long process, so get comfortable.

Thanks for reading my blog and if you try my tutorial out please send me a picture of your finished board valerie@pastimesonline.ca as I would LOVE to see what you create.

Hopefully I've inspired you to freshen up your boards for Spring!!!

Have a happy and creative weekend everyone, 

PS Plans for this weekend for me will include, Flying Needles meeting and sew day on Saturday, and Sunday putting kits together and sewing, can't wait!!! Send your inspirational thoughts my way.

Today for my "Around the Net" posting I'm highlighting: Sentimental Stitches as they have an excellent tutorial on hand-applique, we all talk about different methods and this one I'm adding to my website. It's excellent and the pictures are great! Very similar to the Gina Kimball method.

(Kim E you should try this one instead of your paper one...)

(photos courtesy of Sentimental Stitches website)

When you spend some time on her site there are so many other things available like free patterns and 

since I'm so into embroidery, here's a sneak peak at one of her free embroidery patterns...Dianne P you will love this :)

Until next time, have a happy and creative day...

Hi Ladies, thought I would share a quilting tutorial of one of my favourite techniques: Chenille. For those of you who have never tried this or who don't know of it...enjoy.

1) Use contrasting fabrics to get a good effect. Mine are blue, beige, blue reversed, orange marble, beige b, stiff interfacing, dupioni silk with fuse right side face down as this is my lining. You don't need the interfacing if you are using the chenille blocks in a quilt. I based this tutorial on my new Scissor Keeper pattern and kit (to come)

Line the edges of your fabrics up in a nice pile, mark "X" with choco-liner

Sew the cross lines then begin to sew the chenille lines using your foot as your width guide

finish each quadrant the same way

Once you are done sewing, cut in between each sewn line, in all sections in all quadrants. You will need the sharpest scissors you own as you will be cutting through the top 4 layers. Again, if you are doing these chenille blocks for a quilt you not use interfacing and you will cut through all top layers.

Rinse really well in cool water (if using silks) or warm water if using cottons, you want this to be completely soaked make sure you get every layer. Dry, you may want to add this to a load of clothes so there is some substance in the dryer to help the chenille process.

Here's what it looks like once washed and dried - don't you just love it!! It's so warm and cozy :)

Have I got you inspired?

Here's projects I've completed using this technique, some of you might have seen: 

for my niece who loves cats.

monthly embroidery project that I added the chenille too.

My newest pattern, Chenille Scissor Keeper with matching needle keeper

This set is for my Mum, which she loved!

for my SIL, and she loved this also...

Any questions, just email.

Hi everyone, 

Quilter Going Bananas has a few tutorials on her blog and once I started digging a bit further there's one on Half Square Triangles and Quarter Square Triangles. If you haven't taken a class on perfecting these I suggest you do as there are so many blocks that incorporate these in the patterns we choose and it can be very frustrating when they don't come out precise.

{from Quilter Going Bananas}

{from my pizza box challenge}

Several years ago, I took a class on Half Square Triangles and Quarter Square Triangles - well two classes actually part one and two. Joanne Middleton from Patchwork School House is an Alberta teacher and lecturer. She has a barrage of courses available to take and she travels all over Alberta, it just depends on how busy her schedule is to book with her.

This class I took was so great it taught me something like a dozen methods to do half square triangles and most of them proved to be easy and accurate - some I just tried the technique and then I chose the one I liked the best!

She sells DVD's and has been featured on QNN - check out her site when you have a chance, she is an amazing teacher and person.

Joanne also has quite a few very cute patterns.

Until next time, join our block of the month club: Journey of a Quilter

Have a great creatively inspired day...