How to sew French seams for beginners. The perfect alternative to overlocking.

Those of you who are new too sewing may or may not have heard the term “French seams” before.

French seams are most commonly used for delicate fabrics such as satin, chiffon and tulle where a traditional sewn seam would be unsightly and not strong enough to hold the seam together on its own.

I am someone who likes my work to look as good internally as it does externally which is not always possible, however using French seams in place of an over locker can create a very neat internal view to a garment with the added bonus of being incredibly durable which is perfect for children’s clothing.

A French seam is double stitched when compared with a standard seam and provides extra reinforcement on stress points.

So first thing we need to do is grab your two pieces of fabric and iron them as flat as possible. I ALWAYS press my fabric before sewing as flat fabric allows for more accurate stitching.

Next you line up your two edges but this time you will place your fabrics wrong sides together. This means your print will be facing outwards whilst the back of your fabric will face towards one another.

Sew a straight line alone the edge of the fabric . Don't worry if it is not perfectly even as you are going to then going to take your scissors or rotary cutter and trim along side the stitching roughly a 1/4 inch from your seam.

Snip your threads and then iron down your seams so they sit flat against your fabric.

Turn your fabric right sides facing in and iron down again.

Now line up the edge of the seam with the 1/2 inch mark on your sewing plate and stitch a straight line down the edge of your fabric .

This will now create a clean seam with the raw edges of your fabric encased inside.

Iron the seam once more time and Voila !! Once perfect, neat and durable French seam.

Now obviously this looks like a lot of extra work, but once you get used to it you will be surprisee how quick and natural it becomes.

A good quality finish is important to me particularly if I am making a gift or selling a product and in the absence of a overlocker this is the best option for creating the desired effect.