How to Sew French Seams
French seams are a rather fancy way of creating a lovely, neat finish to your garment. What they do is enclose the unsightly raw edges of the fabric within a neatly stitched secret cavity, never to be seen again… or that’s how I like to think of them!
They work really nicely on light- to medium-weight fabric, but not so great on heavier fabrics where they'd create bulky seams. They’re particularly useful on sheer fabrics as they look less conspicuous than overlocked seams. The strength of the seam also makes them practical for clothing that’s going to go through the laundry a lot. Plus they just look awesome :)
You know how you usually stitch fabric right sides together? Well, with French seams you start by stitching the fabric wrong sides together. Sacré bleu! Intrigued? I'm going to show you a demo on the Mathilde blouse sewing pattern. Let’s go…
Start by placing the pieces you want to sew wrong sides together. Stitch the seam with a 5mm (1/4in) seam allowance, back tacking at each end.
If your fabric frays a lot, trim those pesky sticky-outy threads so they don't reveal themselves later.
Press as follows:
1) press flat to help set the stitches into the fabric;
2) press the seam allowances open;
3) fold the fabric right sides together around the stitching line and press along the fold.
Pin the pieces together along this fold.
Now stitch the fabric right sides together using a 10mm (3/8in) seam allowance, back tacking each end. The raw edges should be hidden away within the two lines of stitching.
Now admire your handy work – don’t those French seams look beautiful?
Want to give them a whirl? Sew French seams on our Mathilde blouse or Fifi PJs pattern.
