Beginner's Guide To Quilting - UK (2020-04)

Beginner’s Guide to Quilting 31

Pressing ensures a smooth finish and helps with cutting

and piecing. Read on for a few pointers...

Essential Techniques

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LABEL฀OR฀A฀LITTLE฀NOTE฀WITH฀

AFTERCARE฀INSTRUCTIONS฀SUCH฀

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(^1) ‘Pressing’ in patchwork means moving the iron
in a lifting and pressing motion, to encourage
seams to lie in the right direction, rather than
moving the iron in sweeping motions.
(^2) Press your fabrics to flatten them out
and remove any creases before you start
cutting and piecing them together.
(^4) W h e n s ew i n g t wo r ows o f u n i t s t o g e t h e r,
press the seams in opposite directions

• see ‘nesting seams’ on page 49.

(^3) Take care when using steam as
it can stretch and distort the bias
edges of fabric. You won’t usually
need to use steam from the iron
but it’s handy if you come across
really stubborn creases that
need a little extra smoothing.
(^5) When possible press towards
the darker fabric so the colour
doesn’t show through pale
fabrics on the right side.
(^7) Take care when pressing
wadding. Some waddings
can be pressed with a cool
iron, but you should do a
test first. Don’t iron a
polyester wadding
or it will melt.
(^8) Spray starch can useful to stabilise
fabric and give it extra body. If you’re
cutting through several layers of fabric
in one go with your rotary cutter,
spray-starching fabrics first will help
them stay crisp as you cut.
(^9) Press your seams as you go along.
Pressing the seam flat first to set the
stitches and then open it up and
pressing it to one side or open,
depending on your preference
or the project instructions.
(^10) Always check the iron
temperature carefully.
A medium-to-hot iron is
sufficient for cottons but more
delicate fabrics will need a
cooler temperature.
Manmade fabrics (and
threads) are often very
sensitive to heat.
(^6) When pressing appliqués
press on the wrong side with a
towel under the appliqué to
protect it from flattening out.
FOR PRESSING
How to
Find out how to press
basic and nesting
seams on pages
48 and 49.
(^10) TOP฀TIPS
Looking after your finished quilt
After all the love you put into making your quilts, they
deserve to be finished and stored with love!