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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

So Sew! Day 23: French Seam

Welcome to day 23 of our 31 Days sewing series! This is a tutorial for a french seam.


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Today I want to show you another simple seam that has a big impact! The simple hem we learned yesterday is great for finishing things like curtains, or clothing hems. Today's seam is great for a seam, not a hem, that is going to be seen often.

Today's seam is called the French Seam. I use this on the inside of the pillowcases in my shop.

A french seam encloses the raw edges of a seam, making it more finished and keeping it from fraying. It only takes two simple steps:

Start by putting your fabric wrong sides together. This is backwards! Normally for a seam you put right sides together, but this is backwards! Make a 1/2" seam or less - wrong sides together.



You may want to iron this to help it to lay correctly.

Next, turn your fabric the other way an lay it right sides together - like normal. =)


You have to make sure the first seam you made is directly on the side.


Now sew a normal 5/8" seam.


On the back, you have a nice seam with no raw edges.


Flip it over, and you'll see a normal looking seam! No one needs to know what secrets lurk in there! =)


The key to this seam is that your first seam {when the fabric pieces were wrong sides together} is smaller than the second one. That keeps everything enclosed. Here is the view from the end where you can see both seams:


Again, a really easy seam, right? If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: sewing is easy and fun! =)

Challenge: Test this seam on some scrap fabric. Whaddya think? What items would you use this seam on?


Other posts in this series:

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