A French Seam is known to be a seam in quality garments, and also has great uses in gear.
It is a fairly straight forward seam to make, especially if you are doing it on a straight edge. I think the most challenging part is remembering to sew the pieces of fabric at the right facing, as it may feel counter intuitive at first in comparison to sewing things inside out.
Benefits in Gear:
A French Seam leaves you with no raw edges exposed, without having to add any extra pieces from seam binding such as grosgrain or bias tape. It also takes less time than adding another piece from a seam binding. It is a professional looking finish and can easily be secured and reinforced.
It is also a seam that you can seal over with waterproofing pretty easily as it lays nice and flat when topstitched.
Applications:
On any project where you are joining two edges of fabric, you can use a French Seam if you feel it is the right finish for you. This could include tents, shelters, bags, bug nets, at least.
Intro:
Usually when you sew two pieces of fabric together, you lay them so that the right sides are touching each other, and you are seeing the wrong sides while you sew. Then when you turn them inside out, your seam is hidden on the inside. A French Seam may feel counterintuitive at first, because you start off with sewing the wrong sides touching and the right sides facing out. Let’s get to the instruction so you can see what I’m talking about.
Seam Allowance:
Seam allowance is the amount of extra fabric you have built in to your cut fabric to account for the losses of fabric when you sew the seams. In this particular example, I am using a total seam allowance of 3/4″. The first 1/4″ will be sewn away in the first step, and the remaining 1/2″ will be the finishing part of the seam.
To account for seam allowance in your pattern, offset the outside by 3/4″ to everywhere you are using your French Seam.
How to do it:
1. Lay out your fabric and distinguish the right side from the wrong side. The right side meaning the side that will appear on the outside of your piece, and the wrong side meaning the side that will be on the inside with the seams.
2. Place your fabric so that the wrong sides are touching each other, and the right sides are both on the outside. Note that in the second photo, you cannot see the green piece of fabric because the blue piece is the same size and on top of it.
3. Sew your first seam at 1/4″ from the edge.
4. Unfold your pieces at the seams.
5. Fold the fabric back over so that the right sides are touching each other now. Press against the seam with your finger so that it is taut.
6. Now sew another stitch at 1/2″ from the edge of the original seam. This stitch encases the raw edge of the fabric.
7. Open up the fabric at the seam, just like you did in the previous step. At this stage, you are technically done, but there is one more step if you prefer to secure the flap.
8. Secure the flap with an edge stitch if you wish. The benefits are it will add a little reinforcement to your seam, and is a good idea to do if there will be any tension on your seam.
All done!
Can this be done on a curve?
Yes. It can, but it depends. It depends on the fabric you are using, and how strong of fabric you are using. You may have to play around with the seam allowance depending on how sharp of a curve you are using, or make small cuts up to the first stitch line before turning it inside out for the finishing stitch.
