A french seam is a nice way to finish a seam. It hides the raw edges, and is a great alternative if you don't have an over-locker or cover-stitch machine, and is actually a nicer way to finish seams even if you do. The technique I have described is for a half inch seam allowance (12.5mm).
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Apparently, the French call this "Couture Anglaise", or English Seam.
Apparently, the French call this "Couture Anglaise", or English Seam.
I wonder why no-one is taking credit for it?
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To start with, take your fabrics and sew them together with the wrong sides facing each other. A 1/4 inch foot is a great tool to use if you have one. To get an accurate seam allowance, I need to adjust my needle position one notch to the right.
Use thread to match your fabric. I have used black thread here so that it is easy to see what I have done.
So, after you have sewed a 1/4 inch (6mm seam), give it a little press and trim off about half of the seam allowance.
Press the seam open and then fold along the seam line, so that the right sides of the fabric are together.
Sew another 1/4 inch seam, encasing the raw edges of the fabric inside.
Press your new seam to one side (usually towards the back) and you are all done.
You can see the seam from the back, above and from the front, below. Now that was easy, oui?
What a nifty set of instructions, Carmel. And it looks like you are being quite seriously pursued by an editor here! :-)
ReplyDeleteHow have you been since Blogtoberfest? I just wanted to let you know that I'm hosting another (albeit gentler and more introspective) blog challenge over the month of December called #reverb12.
Would be so rapt if you joined us!
There's a little giveaway too. :-)
Details here: http://isawyoudancing.blogspot.com.au/p/reverb12.html
Take care,
Kat xxx