French Seam Beauty

seam sewn down

The beauty in a clean French seam is undeniable, but it’s also so very handy when dealing with fabrics that really like to fray but you don’t want to bother with the serger right that moment.

As usual I was in Joann’s and found a fine wale corduroy in a bright turquoise print that I just had to have 5 yards of…figuring I’d do something with it. It never fails when I do that, the nice lady at the counter asks what I’m going to do with it because who would buy that much fabric without a plan?!?! HAHAHA…me. Always…me. It does fray like crazy though, and while it has been turned into bibs and blankets where the seams are enclosed, I wanted to make Zoe a pair of pants in the fabric.

trusty pants pattern
trusty pants pattern

 

I’ve made these pants so often, I can just about do it with my eyes closed. It’s the same New Look 6793 pattern I’ve been using for her…just slowly unfolding the hem line down as she gets bigger! I haven’t bothered with the flouncy edge in the pattern or even gotten to the dresses! They’re good, roomy pants though for active babies.

Sewing a French seam is sort of weird at first because you have to sew it together right-side-out so that it will look ‘right’ inside out. You still end up using 5/8″ seam allowance – and much more efficiently in my opinion.

sew wrong sides
sew wrong sides

I sew a 1/4 inch seam and then trim it down to about 1/8 inch.

trim excess
trim excess

Then, when the pants are inside out, you’re ready to go over your seams and enclose them with another 1/4″ and with the fold, will use the majority of the 5/8″ seam allowance:

sewing in the first seam
sewing in the first seam
sew down seams
sew down seams

I think here with my hand and small scissors you can get an idea of scale and how neat and finished the inside seams are:

seam sewn down
seam sewn down

Turned right side out and the finished seam is squared and tight.

turned right side out
turned right side out

Then, if you’re like me, you tinker with whatever you have on hand to make something to go with it….like the pile of onesies!

pile'o'onesies
pile’o’onesies

Snip out a tree…ironed to a light weight stabilizer of course…

onesie cut out
onesie cut out

Stitch to onesie:

stitch to onesie
stitch to onesie

And admire the cute.

The Cute
The Cute