Bonjour! You’ve reached the holy grail, the ultimate guide on how to sew a French seam! Now, I know what you’re thinking. What would I use a French seam for?
Well, for one it could be an incredibly versatile seam for lightweight fabrics like silk and sheer, delicate fabrics such as tulle. It is one of the most elegant seam finishes, but often gets a bad reputation for how difficult it is for some. Everything seems backwards, but once you follow the simple tutorial below, I’m certain you’ll be saying “Ooh la la!” at your beautifully sewn French seams!
Luckily with the French seam, you will need the bare minimum for this project. That means just have your fabric, scissors, iron, and thread handy! I do recommend practicing your first few French seams on scrap pieces of fabric, just to build our confidence level a bit! You are welcome to use muslin if you find your garment fabric too precious to mishandle. To start, cut your fabric straight down the middle and place the wrong sides together.
Simple enough right? Once cut and placed together. sew down the length of where you want your seam to be. Be sure to have pins handy for this part, if you need help keeping your fabric together. Press with your iron to ensure a crisp finish!
After sewing and pressing down the length of your seam, your next step is to trim some of your seam allowance off. This is going to help us in our next step, and help make our French seams as thin as possible. As thin and crisp as French baguette!
After trimming off the excess seam allowance, your next step is to flip the fabric to have the right sides facing each other. Just close it, like a book in your favorite French cafe after a delightful cup of coffee!
We’re nearing the finish line! Once you have flipped it, you can pin where you want your next seam to be placed, which will be right near our previously placed seam. Be sure to back tack on the first and last few stitches to add security! Once you’ve sewn down your new seam, you should definitely iron it again for a more crisp finish.
Our final step is to flip our work over, and have the right side facing us. Trim any and all of the excess threads, and of course press the seam flat like your favorite crepe!
And that’s it! If you have any more questions, I’d be happy to answer any and all comments left below on this post. I hope this tutorial was useful for you! Do you have any tips on how to sew a French seam? Where in your next project will you be putting them? Let me know in the comments!
9 comments
Thanks for this, really clear and helpful
you made every thing so simple. There is no way to go wrong. thank you
Very helpful tutorial!
Thank you for making this so easy to understand. I have several projects coming up that will look so much more professional with this skill utilized, one silk and several chiffon.
M
Wow! That is the easiest instruction I have come across. Thank you! Your tutorial and the great contents and infographic helped a lot.
Thank you so much baby love! Its an easy instructional material.
Thank you so much for this tutorial! You broke it down so well, and the illustrations helped me so much. I’m hoping to use this on the Klenia Blouse pattern.
This is great!! Thanks so much for the clear directions!
I’ve been sewing for about 8 months and have seen many tutorials of French seams and have yet to properly do it! Usually I learn better with videos than I do by reading something but this little diagram was perfect! I feel like I could finally go do a perfect french seam now! Thanks for this (: