WHICH SEAM FINISH SHOULD YOU CHOOSE FOR YOUR GARMENT? (The wrong one can be a sewing disaster! )

Good pros and cons for each finish. Thank you. I would love the pattern for your beautiful tasseled purple peasant top!!!

Last year i was making an overdress for a costume, using brown muslin which was the only fabric i could find in that colour. I was concerned it would be too transparent, so i decided to double it - and "cheat" on finishing each piece - by sewing each piece into a bag and inverting it. Like a French seam on the edge of each piece! It did make the seams a little bulky, especially when i hadn't trimmed enough of the edges. Well, it all went well until i got to sewing in the sleeve ... which had a puff made of an extra piece on the outside... Making a total of twelve layers of my nice, fine muslin at the bottom of the armscye. I had to hand-sew those sleeves in - and then trim so much bulk that my "pre-finish" was completely wasted 😂 Still haven't finished those two seams!

My funniest mistake was sewing a French seam on accident 😂 and the most frustrating I still have trouble with is cutting fabric- with mirroring and duplicate and what not. - from an extreme beginner who struggles with remembering all the terms!

Wish I could like this video more than once! Sooooo very helpful! Thank you!

Have you done a video explaining the various sewing machine feet. I have a 2nd hand machine with various bits but no instructions. What is a zipper foot?

You are fantastic! I'm learning a lot from you. Greetings from Italy!

A seam finish I like to use doesn't seem to have a name. I press the seam open after sewing and turn under each side of the seam and hand sew it down to the fabric. It's like the hand sewn felled seam I guess but open instead of closed.

I'm a beginner sewist, and recently sewed "The Easy Drawstring Bag" from Purl Soho.

Per directions, the seams aren't finished in this bag, but if I were to finish them, I'm not sure which finishing technique to choose, since the first instruction is to sew up from a fold. Does this make a difference? I'd like to use the bags to practice different techniques.

I probably won't buy pinking shears, since I don't have the budget for them right now.

Thanks for anyone, who can advise me.

Oh I have a good one. I thought I could add a long sleeve from a different pattern without considering the arm opening changes. Oh my, the sleeve TOTALLY DID NOT FIT. So stupid! LOL LOL. My new beautiful cloth, in the trash. LOL oh no!!!

Hi Evelyn! I live in Portugal and the lady that thought me how to sew also called French seams English seams. But I think that was only her. Everybody tells me English seams are the ones like the ones in jeans and French seams like the ones you showed.

Most of my patterns say to press seams open so that is what I do and I like that the seam lays flat—pinking shears are still good for flat seams. I use closed seam types for pillowcases etc but just don’t like the look or feel of any closed seam in garments. Zigzag on each edge separately are also fairly okay to keep flat depending on fabric used. Just my experience and opinion. The polyester double knits of the 70’s were a dream to sew, launder, and didn’t show wear for years. Of course the cotton lobby was not a fan of clothes that wore forever. ☺️

👋 hello What stitch is best for stretch satin

What is the best seam finish for gathering seams where you have attached skirt to bodice?

I was gifted a 13 year old serger. I found I love to serge. The machine is fast and it’s so satisfying to see the seams finished.

Hi, I am sewing a denim jacket by hand and I'm trying to do a flat felled seam by hand and I don't know what stitch to use to do it. Doing a back stitch seems too weak in comparison to a machine stitch like a chain stitch to me. Should I just do it with a sewing machine or is there s strong stitch type I can do by hand (even if I need imitate a sewing machine)

I like the serger seam for some things but the downside is that there is no extra fabric so if you have to let a seam out to make a garment fit a little better then there is no fabric to do so.

Question: Does one sew the the garment first before finishing the seams?

This was great! I still get unsure thought If it is always okay to use a server. What if the pattern calls to press seams open? Then should I not use a serger? Or what about something that have curves that I would usually need to clip but then can’t because the seam is serged? So confusing!

Just getting back to sewing after 25 years. Thank you for a great refresher.❤

Would you use different seams finishes within the same garment? I’m definitely thinking about seam finishes with each garment now rather than just serging every time. Thank you Evelyn - excellent video as always.

Hello! Off topic but your blouse (?) you’re wearing is simply gorgeous! I assume you sewed it yourself because you’re so good at sewing and have been practicing for a long time. Do you happen to have a pattern for it? I’d like to make it myself someday when I have the skill!

Also a question. How machine washable hand felled seams are?

I'm autistic and have sensory processing disorder and overlocked and zigzag seams are often extremely painful to me, especially with stiffer fabrics. My favorite seams for shirts, and the least sensory-overwhelming, are felled seams. There's no extra pokey ridge of fabric as there are with almost all other seam finishes.

Many times the thread itself is also extremely scratchy and painful, so often French seams are better than serged seams for me.

My mom sewed when I was a kid in the 80s (which is wonderful for a sensory defensive kid, since she could buy just the fabrics I was comfortable with) and pinking shears were a common finishing tool! Pinked edges are just fine for fabrics like flannel and the like, but it becomes like jagged saw teeth when it's a stiffer fabric, haha.

Every person with SPD is different on what bothers them but seams are a very common issue, along with types of fabric and tags. Some accessible fashion designers have incorporated visible outside seam finishes as part of the design and style of their sensory-friendly clothing lines.

I really dislike the zigzag because mine never turn out pretty and also I used them on everything until now (this video is a game changer). I sewed the covers from the sitting banks I made and I used the zigzag on the weavy fabric (it was the only one I knew of) and of course after one washing they started getting undone. 😒🙄 but now I know better thanks to you. 😊 After 3 videos only you got me to follow you. 😇

My sewing journey started of watching these videos from this lady. I knew nothing and understood nothing. Many thanks to her my knowledge and skill set in sewing now is dangerous. Keep making videos for people like me, that come from nowhere. Thank you Evelyn 🤍🤍🤍🤍

Seam finishes have always kept me from making my own clothes and sticking only to quilting. After watching a few of your videos I'm going to get back in to apparel sewing because my body just doesn't want to wear anything off the shelf anymore. I have a serger and never even use it so I'll start putting it to use. Thanks so much for your videos.

I have a 1941 singer and I will be making a super elegant top with some high sheen brocade. I don’t have an overlock machine so I’m going to have to do French seams MAYBE with Hong Kong finishing for the waist. It’s a looser fitting top so it should be just fine! 👍🏻

Ty so much you are so good with sewing, I’ve learned a lot of sewing technics from your videos .

Such a useful video!

Are overcast and overlock 2 different things?

I work with light weight fabric alot and a French seam is awesome! I did however do a heavier cotton shirt and the seams got quite bulky with a French seam, so definitely gonna mix it up!

I’m getting ready to sew an unlined jacket, and would like to finish my seams by binding them with self-made bias tape. How wide should the tape be to do the job without adding extra bulk? The seam allowance for the jacket will be the standard 5/8 inch.

Could u pls make a video on French seam with corded piping? I’m planning to use it for my 8 panels dress. Can’t thank you enough for all your tutorial videos.

I've watched so many of your videos and I think this one is my favourite! Having all this info here in one video is so helpful - I've been sewing for 30 years but I still hadn't got my head around which seam finishes are good for which garment/fabric. Now I get it! Thank you so much!

I'm relatively new to sewing and my favourite disaster was a shirt I made where I thought my new vintage pinking shears would look really tidy... They were blunt and I couldn't get through the fabric very well and realised that they would probably fray in the wash! I have a Singer 201 which of course doesn't do zig zags but I also have an attachment for that which moves the fabric as opposed to the needle itself .. what a mess! It wobbled all over the place... As a final insult, the shirt was far to small! Clearly didn't think anything through 😂 gave it to a friend who was the right size, he loved it and didn't notice the errors. Lessons learnt: always do a mock up, get the scissors sharpened regularly and actually plan seam finishes...

Thank you! A very helpful video for a beginner like me 😄

So a serger cannot sew a straight stitch?

Thanks Evelyn, I am in England, and was taught sewing in school in the early'60's we were taught well, a shame that it does not seem to be taught now. I think my worse seam finishes were working with lace on my wedding dress, long enough ago now I do not remember what I did!

My biggest annoyance was with more tightfitting clothes, like my satin dress, is the seam pulled the fabric apart at the threads...in public...how to avoid getting a hole every time you sit down!

Worst mistake - I cut a garment kneeling on the hard floor (my knees were quite unhappy) using pinking shears and no pattern weights or anything. The edges were “finished”, but the cuts were nowhere near straight. Pieces looked like the bands of a five year old who cut her own hair. Thank goodness it was just the mock-up.

I made a 20 panel sheer skirt for a costume. Of course I had to use French seems and just like you said, I did a lot of unpicking... A few times after I had already sewn the enclosing seem. I still think it was totally worth it. It's a perfect twirling skirt and I love how it turned out

I like to do French seams, but find French seams difficult to be accurate as even if sew the first line right, the fold must take some fabric and then you sew the second seam, and if its not pressed properly its either too big or too small... And then there's the whole fitting issue🤦🏻‍♀️I made a wrap dress with French seams and bound the wrap with bias tape, and I was so proud of my seams, but the wrap gapes😭 now I can't bear the thought of undoing it all!!!

I tend to use a lot of Fray-Check glue on the edges I'm extra worried about. Such as areas that will likely experience a lot more strain and wear. Then I finish them normally however is necessary

Before I got a serger, I tried pinking shears on a linen skirt 😭. Of course, it fell apart in the wash. I was able to piece it back together but it was like sewing the skirt twice. Lesson learned 😂

I really don't know why but I just never liked over locker stitching! It's just too "messy" looking for me! Too much thread!

I "made up" a skirt pattern in thick wool-blend fabric as a wearable mock up to trial whether I could make a skirt out of some pretty end-of-line wool I bought.
The skirt had a reasonably nice drape... until I bound it.
I made double fold bias binding out of sturdy cotton twill and it just made it so so bulky and stiff.

Once I've overcome the pain of several days of hand stitching about 18m in length, I will probably unpick it all, hand zig-zag fell the vertical seems and maybe spend some money and buy a grosgrain ribbon to bind the hem (unless someone here steps in and warns me that this is yet another terrible mistake! Haha)

I fell almost all of my seams and my biggest mistake is not using the iron. Then again, I was mostly working on linen and flannel, one of which will crease nicely if you just pinch it and the other of which won't hold a creas if you got the gods' blessing on it :) I have a lot of handmade clothing with unfinished seams (not all made by me) and for the most part if the seam allowance was big enough, it doesn't tend to fray that much even when machine washed, and if it did look like it would fray, I'd do a really unprofessional giant zigzag stitch down the edges... I'm starting to use French seams on really delicate stuff now, and that's a lot nicer when using a machine but right now I'm doing the bulk of my sewing by hand and I just enjoy flat felling my seams by hand.

The methold I'm least likely to use is pinking, as I've never even seen a pair of left-handed pinking shears.

What about curves? I always have a harder time with curved seams and wonder what seam finishes work best.