F is for French Seams

I recently learned the wonderful technique of using French seams to seal raw edges without a serger. In highschool I made several skirts that were constantly "shedding" bits of thread from the seams and I thought I would need a serger in order to get past that. Never again!


Normal seam with exposed edges which can unravel and shed.

I'm just using scraps of a patterned fabric for the tutorial so that you can see clearly what I'm doing.

First you want to make sure you leave an extra 1/4 inch seam allowance (in addition to the standard 5/8").
Line up the fabric with wrong sides facing and sew a seam at 1/4".





Iron the seam. I usually iron it closed up, then open the fabric and iron the seam to one side.



The fold the fabric over so that the right sides are now facing. Iron down the seam line evenly making sure the fold is straight along the seam line.



Sew down the seam again at 5/8 inch making sure you are enclosing the first seam.



Iron seam and open. Iron open seam to either side. Turn onto the right side and make sure no stray threads are sticking out.



Now you should have an enclosed seam that will not shed or unravel inside your garment.