Probably one of my favorite seams to sew is the French Seam. It's also the most time consuming, but totally worth it! The french Seam is stitched twice, once from the right side and once from the wrong side. It is most often used with sheer fabrics (but can be used with all woven fabrics- and even knits) It looks best if the finished seam is 1/4 inch or less.
1. Put the WRONG sides of fabric together
2.Stitch 3/8 inch from the edge
3. Trim seam allowance to 1/8 inch
4. Press seam open
5. Fold right sides together, with stitch line exactly on the edge of the fold, and press again
6. Stitch with seam line right on the edge of the presser foot, a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
7. Press seam to one side
Now admire your hard work, because it is beautiful- inside and out! Occasionally you'll have a few threads poke through on the right side. This means you didn't trim well enough. You can usually just pull them out. Or you can trim them close to your seam.
I use the French seam ALL THE TIME. especially if I am making a blessing outfit, or a gift. It just looks so clean and nice. Raw edges turn into an ugly mess. This seam is a great way to enclose them!
Do you want to lean more ways to finish a raw edge? Let me know, I have a whole portfolio full of them.
1 comment:
Hooray for sewing month! This is a very helpful tip. I don't know that I'll be doing much sewing this month, but if I do, I'll certainly be using French seams... :)
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