French seams are wonderful for professional-looking, clean seams. The raw edge of fabric is essentially encased within the seam. They are perfect for light, delicate fabrics such as silk. This tutorial will produce a 5/8″ seam.
If you are making this silk scarf, you can use a french seam to join the two pieces of fabric end to end. While the seam will be visible, it will look very neat.
Pin the seam, with the wrong sides together.
Machine stitch, using only a 1/4″ seam.
Press the seam flat, then trim close to the seam.
Now press the seam downward.
Turn the fabric, so the right sides are now together. To help turn the seam, it can be helpful to run the tip of a knitting needle along the inside of the seam. Press the seam.
Stitch again, this time using a 3/8″ seam allowance. this will encase the raw edge.
Press the seam downward to finish the seam.
To finish the scarf, create a hand rolled hem along the four sides.
Comments
[...] best thing is that the tutorial includes other tutorials on how to create a french seam and how to make a hand rolled [...]
Hard to see how you would make a rolled hem over the french seam. Would it not be better to do the rolled hem first, then seam the two pieces together. Or, cut the scarf running crossways (on the weft) so no seam is necessary.
Sylvia: If you press the seam flat, it’s not too difficult. Personally, I think it looks better to do the seam first in order to make it less conspicuous, but obviously that’s up to the sewer. :)
As for cutting it on the crosswise grain, that’s an option as well, but the scarf would not be the extra long length pictured.
You have given me courage ! I am making a dress for my 12 year old granddaughter and wanted to do a scarf, I am going to try this and hope it works. I had no one to ask and have not sewed many clothes since my own girls were young. Thank you I’ll let you know how it turns out.
re ur french seam tutorial – thanks for the info but I just thought you should know that the link for “this silk scarf” is broken.
Debbie, sorry you had trouble with it but the link appears to be working for me. Hmm.
I was looking up how to make a baby sling, and in the directions it says to use a french seam. I’m trying, but I still don’t quite understand what it is, and why this is the beat seam for holding in babies. I’m not saying your tutorial isn’t a good one, but I’m not sure I understand the seam. is there something I’m just not picking up on? I’m not a huge sewer, but I’d like to become one, and I’d just like to get this right. is there any easier way of explaining it to a new sewer?
Hi Jeanette. A french seam is used basically to make your seams look neat, so there are no raw fabric edges showing. There’s no reason it’s better for holding a baby, except that it looks neater and perhaps will prevent stray threads from getting on the wee one.
thanks. I figured it out, and the sling is great! I sewed it down (like on the outer seam of jeans) and it’s working great.
[...] Colette Patterns and Hoppo Bumpo have pretty good tutorials on this. Basically put your fabric wrong sides together, stitch a seam (3/8″ or 1cm is good), press flat, trim to about 1/4″ and flip fabric so right sides are together. Press again and stitch your seam again, about 3/8″ or 1cm. This encases the raw edge. press and your done! You can make this wider or narrower depending on the thickness of your fabric. [...]
Debbie is right, the link is broken. You can probably see it because you’re logged into the blog. Try changing “.local” to “.com” in the URL.
Thanks for the tutorial!
Thanks guys, the link should be fixed now. Sorry about that!
Mmmm… Strange. In french, we call these english seams (!?).
Marie, that’s so funny. I wonder what they call a hong kong seam in hong kong!
Okay, what is a hong knog seam?
A hong kong seam is a name for a seam in which each raw edge of the seam is encased in bias binding. It’s very labor intensive but a wonderful finish!
Thanks for describing a hong kong seam and for not pointing out that I transposed my letters in kong.
Ooh, thank you! Wonderfully clear instructions!
Can you use a French seam in the side seam where you have a bust dart?
You absolutely can. I suppose the only exception might be if your fabric is bulky, but french seams are normally used on very light fabrics, so bulk shouldn’t be a big issue I wouldn’t think.