Please note:  I am affiliated with Janome as a Janome Artisan and am compensated.  However, my reviews are honest and I would say what I say whether affiliated or not.  I’ve also chosen to be affiliated with Janome since 2003 (!!!) because their machines are so good and they are so responsive to the interests and needs of their customers.

To make a French seam you sew the seam twice.  My example is on a 5/8″ seam which is standard in the US.  Please adjust accordingly for your pattern and practice.

First, sew the seam with the fabric WRONG sides together at 3/8″ wide.  Yes, wrong sides together.

Second, press the seam as stitched.  This will set the seam and sink the threads into the fabric.  Then, open up the garment and press the seam open. This will encourage the fabric to fold perfectly on the seamline and create a crisp “knife-edge”  (this pressing technique is ideal for making knife-edge pillows).  See  the illustrative photos just below and, beneath them, photos at the machine.

Third, trim the seam allowance to 3/16 to 1/8″ and fold on the seamline so that right sides are together.  Be sure to trim any pesky whiskers and threads–they’re obnoxious to try to trim later.  If you are using a particularly ravelly fabric, a little starch or temporary (washable) gluestick daubed on carefully to keep the wanderers tucked inside is a good idea.

Finally, sew the second seam 1/4″ from the folded edge and give it a final press to neaten things up.

Because of the luscious thickness of the flannel, I didn’t use this technique on this top.  But I DID use it on my Anthea Linen BlouseAnthea Blouse in Sky Blue Linen which I blogged about here.  This is a picture of the side seams on 5.3 oz (middle weight) linen in that blouse.

USAGE:  This seam works best on lighter weight fabrics from chiffon to lawn to quilting-weight cottons and sheeting, and light to some mid-weight linens.  It makes a beautiful finish on pillowcases, summer blouses, shirts and dresses, and sheers.

In a garment, the French seam isn’t suitable to really thick or stiff fabrics UNLESS you want to make a point of the bulk.  I have actually used this “inside out” on throw pillows:  Sew wrong sides together, trim, turn, and sew the second seam about 1/2″ away.  This creates a stiff outside edge that adds structure to the pillow and acts like cording!

Next up:  Lapped seams!

Here are the links to all the posts in this series of lessons, techniques that can be applied to virtually any garment and many home dec projects.   Let me know what you’d like to learn and see here on the blog.  Cheers and thanks, Sarah

Lesson 1:   Choosing a Pattern and Starting Tips

Lesson 2:   Making a Muslin, Fitting and Sleeves

Lesson 3:   Matching Plaids, Cutting out Your Garment Pieces

Lesson 4:  Overcast Seams, just like Serged Seams

Lesson 5:   French Seams

Lesson 6:  Lapped and Flat-felled Seams

Lesson 7:  Hong Kong Finish for Seams

Lesson 8:  Lined Patch Pocket Tutorial

Lesson 9:  Hems and Scarf

Nothing beats a beautifully finished garment, one that is so pretty on the inside that you enjoy it every time you put it on.  Though you might be tempted to wear it inside out it’s so pretty, it remains a secret just for you!  Top technique for a beautiful inside is using a seam finish to hide the raw edges.  Not only does it look nice, it also protects the edges of the fabric, prevents fraying, can improve the way the seam functions, and contributes to a garment that will last longer.  After all, you’ve spent money and, more dearly, time creating so enjoy it longer!

Please note:  I am affiliated with Janome as a Janome Artisan and am compensated.  However, my reviews are honest and I would say what I say whether affiliated or not.  I’ve also chosen to be affiliated with Janome since 2003 (!!!) because their machines are so good and they are so responsive to the interests and needs of their customers.

There are many ways to finish seams.  Today I’ll review one of four methods and suggest why you might choose one over the other. I’ll do the other finishes in subsequent posts so this doesn’t get too long!

1. Serged or overcast edges
2. French seams
3. Flat-felled or lapped seams
4. Hong Kong finish seams

Overcast:

The first seam finish we’ll talk about is perhaps the most well known because it is fast and is used on the majority of commercially made garments:  serged seams.  These are made with a serger machine, which you might not own.  But if you have even a very basic sewing machine (more than straight-stitch-only), you will likely have at least one utility stitch that is called an overcast stitch.  On my machine, here are some of the choices:

If you want help understanding when and how to use a given stitch, open the AcuSpark app and scan the QR code.  It then opens up a screen in the app with all sorts of nifty information on how to use the stitch. Below, I’ve opened the app to the Scan tool and took screen shots of these four overcast or overlock stitches.

There is also a tab to look at various options, on left side of photo below and, on the right, the stitch I like.

 

And let’s look at what a difference using the correct presser foot makes!  Be sure to watch the video at the end of the post to see this foot in action!

Most machines that offer these stitches also come with (or you can buy separately depending on brand and model); buy one made by the company that made your machine for best results) a foot that has a wire on the right.  This allows the stitch to form properly and not pull or curl the edge; those distorted edges aren’t as comfortable! On the Janome, it is the “M” foot.  Look at the difference between the samples above.

Check the feel of the seam on a scrap.  Adding too much thread can make a seam stiff and uncomfortable.  If you have/can find a lighter weight thread, that finer thread will make the seam softer, as will using a longer stitch length IF your machine allows any adjustments to stitch width and length.  If so, and your fabric ravels a lot, you may choose to use a wider stitch setting to better encase the tendency to ravel and wiggle.

USAGE:  pretty much any seam, especially where seams intersect and you’d end up with a lot of bulk.

When I was doing custom home dec sewing for an interior designer, I also used a serger (but you can use the overcast stitches) to secure each cut piece of fabric before constructing the pillows, duvets, curtains, bedskirts, seat cushions and such. Upholstery fabric is VERY ravelly, and expensive, so I secured the edges immediately after cutting and before assembly to prevent an expensive disaster.

Cons:  not the classiest finish, but fast and functional.

Here’s a video!

 

On the Plaid top I used serged together seam allowances for both the underarm and sleeve-to-body seams.  This choice is especially useful where the sleeve joins the body because it stiffens the seam just a bit.  When you press the seam towards the sleeve it actually helps support the top of the sleeve itself and helps it to hang well on the body.

Another nice touch is to edgestitch the seam.  Last summer I asked Philippa Naylor in GMQT (see previous post for additional discussion of GMQT) about how best to handle a side seam with a curved bit under the arm to the extended part for the sleeves.  The top is literally two “T” shaped pieces of fabric with a neck facing and turned up hems (see photo from the back, below). Any curved seam will tend to pull at the curve.  She suggested finishing the seam with an overlock (I used my Janome AirThread2000D serger, but the overcast stitch would do exactly the same), then pressing to the back of the garment and edge stitching.  So I did…worked perfectly (and surprisingly well to me) and kept the curve under the arm from wanting to “wonk” on me.

And a tiny PS:  back in the days when dinosaurs walked the earth and my age was in single digits, home ec classes suggested using pinking shears to finish a seam.  It would look like this.  Problem is that with use and washing, it frays.  So here’s a pic, but really, don’t! You put too much effort and money into not doing your best work!

     Left, seam as stitched, and pressed open.  Bleah.  It’s gonna ravel!  Just don’t. See you next time!

Here are the links to all the posts in this series of lessons, techniques that can be applied to virtually any garment and many home dec projects.   Let me know what you’d like to learn and see here on the blog.  Cheers and thanks, Sarah

Lesson 1:   Choosing a Pattern and Starting Tips

Lesson 2:   Making a Muslin, Fitting and Sleeves

Lesson 3:   Matching Plaids, Cutting out Your Garment Pieces

Lesson 4:  Overcast Seams, just like Serged Seams

Lesson 5:   French Seams

Lesson 6:  Lapped and Flat-felled Seams

Lesson 7:  Hong Kong Finish for Seams

Lesson 8:  Lined Patch Pocket Tutorial

Lesson 9:  Hems and Scarf

While visiting a favorite local shop in nearby Rockland, Maine, Clementine, I happened to fondle this amazing thick, soft flannel and thought it would made a perfect winter top.  The plaid adds a bit of complexity and opportunity to teach a few more advanced skills along with a fairly simple pattern for this series.

Please note:  I am affiliated with Janome as a Janome Artisan and am compensated.  However, my reviews are honest and I would say what I say whether affiliated or not.  I’ve also chosen to be affiliated with Janome since 2003 (!!!) because their machines are so good and they are so responsive to the interests and needs of their customers.

 

Now that the top is cut out, it is time to start sewing.  My next post will be the first one on seam finishes.  See you then–but one more side-view to show what a beautiful seam you get when the plaids are properly aligned!

Here are the links to all the posts in this series of lessons, techniques that can be applied to virtually any garment and many home dec projects.   Let me know what you’d like to learn and see here on the blog.  Cheers and thanks, Sarah

Lesson 1:   Choosing a Pattern and Starting Tips

Lesson 2:   Making a Muslin, Fitting and Sleeves

Lesson 3:   Matching Plaids, Cutting out Your Garment Pieces

Lesson 4:  Overcast Seams, just like Serged Seams

Lesson 5:   French Seams

Lesson 6:  Lapped and Flat-felled Seams

Lesson 7:  Hong Kong Finish for Seams

Lesson 8:  Lined Patch Pocket Tutorial

Lesson 9:  Hems and Scarf

Please note:  I am affiliated with Janome as a Janome Artisan and am compensated.  However, my reviews are honest and I would say what I say whether affiliated or not.  I’ve also chosen to be affiliated with Janome since 2003 (!!!) because their machines are so good and they are so responsive to the interests and needs of their customers.

There’s a LOT of detail in this post, but if you read through you’ll learn why it’s a joy and a wonder when you can find a pattern that works for your body.  And once you make any necessary changes, it is fairly easy to use that pattern and make variations on the theme.  Somewhere down below I mention taking a WONDERFUL, highly-recommended, can’t say enough good tings about Garment Makers Question Time with Philippa Naylor.  I have been sewing over 55 years.  Others in the class have never made a garment. Yet we ALL are learning and getting good results!    You start out easy with a shift dress, move to a skirt, on up to rain jackets and fancy stuff!   I got sidetracked with life last year but can’t wait to get back to it.  Her work experience in the garment industry long before she became a quilter is golden.

It’s kinda like prepping a house to paint it–you have to do the yucky sanding and spackling and priming or the paint job won’t turn out well now matter how good the paint and painter.  This is the prep work part of a successful garment!

I knew that the sleeve pattern was a problem as soon as I saw that it was cut symmetrically.  If you look at a human body from the side, the arm curves to the front.  A sleeve needs to do the same, not hang like a plumb line from the shoulder point.  The fact that the pattern piece was symmetrical (cut on the fold) meant it could never fit properly. I knew I could modify a sleeve pattern piece from another pattern if the length of the seams matched closely enough to make it work.

I used a technique I learned in GMQT.co.UK that is called “walking the seam.”  You measure the length of the SEAM line, not the edge of the pattern piece on, in this case, the armhole opening and the top of the sleeve.  Luckily, my pattern piece from a different garment was within 1/4″.

 

I looked in my collection of patterns–yes, I have patterns going back to the 1970s!–and found one with a sleeve I thought would work. It did!

In the next photo you will see notches and dots.  These are standard in the pattern industry.  One notch on a sleeve usually means the front of the sleeve, two notches is the back side of the sleeve.  Dots are used for various purposes.  Sometimes they show where to run gathers from one spot to the next.  Other times they indicate where you match up the shoulder seam.  That means you can distribute the easing/gathering on the sleeve cap so the sleeve actually FITS and runs around the body in a way that allows you to move your arm.  Sorry–but I was just SO frustrated with this pattern.  It is, sadly, destined to make new sewers think they can’t do anything right, when the error lies in the pattern!

Flare at the hem, you ask?  Why yes…if your sleeve angles out (or pants leg) and gets wider as it goes up, you need to have a hem that does the same.  Once you have figured out the correct spot to hem, fold the fabric up on the hemline and trim to match the angle of the seam.

PHEW.  So…that’s a lot.  Thanks for reading this far–so you get another shot of the finished top, with the infinity scarf on my arm so you can see the top better. Next up:  seam finishes, with a couple short videos!

Here are the links to all the posts in this series of lessons, techniques that can be applied to virtually any garment and many home dec projects.   Let me know what you’d like to learn and see here on the blog.  Cheers and thanks, Sarah

Lesson 1:   Choosing a Pattern and Starting Tips

Lesson 2:   Making a Muslin, Fitting and Sleeves

Lesson 3:   Matching Plaids, Cutting out Your Garment Pieces

Lesson 4:  Overcast Seams, just like Serged Seams

Lesson 5:   French Seams

Lesson 6:  Lapped and Flat-felled Seams

Lesson 7:  Hong Kong Finish for Seams

Lesson 8:  Lined Patch Pocket Tutorial

Lesson 9:  Hems and Scarf

I thought it would be fun to teach some basic garment sewing techniques using a simple “T” top in woven fabric as the platform, tossing in a few special lessons along the way. This isn’t a class in how to make a blouse–rather it is a way to teach several techniques that are useful in garment making and home dec across the board.  There will be 9 posts total that will publish on Tuesday and Friday through March 21. As they go live, I will update a list at the bottom of each post that has links to all the other lessons. Today, I’ll cover:

1. What to look for in a pattern
2. Figuring out what fits you by looking in your closet
3. Wearing Ease
4. Pre-shrinking!
and a tease….be sure to look at the photos at the very end!

Future posts will touch on

–alterations including length, shoulders and bust adjustments (full and small)

–Matching plaids when cutting
–fine seam finishes including
     *Overcast
     *French seams
     *Flat-felled and lapped
     *Hong Kong finish–not used on the top but good to know
and a bit on when to use each


–Lined Patch Pockets, getting a smooth curve, presser foot tricks

–a bonus Infinity Scarf and wrap up

Please note:  I am affiliated with Janome as a Janome Artisan and am compensated.  However, my reviews are honest and I would say what I say whether affiliated or not.  I’ve also chosen to be affiliated with Janome since 2003 (!!!) because their machines are so good and they are so responsive to the interests and needs of their customers.  

A dear friend loves this very popular pattern and has made it many times. It is a simple “T” shape and is supposed to be geared to beginners with simple shaping and few pieces. By making it shorter, you can have a top or a dress from one pattern, and the size range is good for almost all bodies. Or so it would appear. All I can say is that I am so sorry I cannot recommend it. At ALL. I’ll show you why.

As you can see from the cutting diagram on the left, it has a simple flared silhouette with a front, a back, a pocket and two sleeves. Easy peasy, right? WRONG. Here’s why: Registration marks are found on most patterns–I had thought they were on all but I was mistaken because there are none on this one. You see, notches make it EASIER for you to match what goes where and properly align your pieces. Registration dots do the same thing–there is usually a dot somewhere at the top of the sleeve cap which you align with the shoulder seam to position the sleeve so it will fit the body. Lengthen/shorten lines tell you where to do just that, because after all we aren’t all the same: some folks have long torsos, others are short-waisted, and arms–our arms are all sorts of different proportions. AND, there are NO DARTS. Can you imagine an A-cup and a DD-cup trying to fit into the same tent shape? Yeah. As someone I once heard say, one-size-fits-all means looks good on no one.

I am guessing the reason the designer had for omitting these essential marks was to not intimidate the beginner. Unfortunately, all that will happen is the newbie will make something that doesn’t fit any which way and will think they are the problem, when in fact the pattern is doing them a disservice. Like I said, I really wanted to love this pattern and use it as one that you could buy. Don’t. Please keep reading!

 

You’ll want to measure your full bust, around the widest point of your bust line; wear a snug camisole so that you are measuring your body not bulky clothes as well . Then you want to measure the high bust, which is around the torso above the bust, kind of up under the armpits. If you have a large cup size, you will want to choose a pattern that will fit your shoulders, then do a full bust adjustment. Luckily, many of the independent designers now design for full bust–I have to skip those lines or down-scale the fronts so they don’t look concave and sag on me. The major companies tend to design for a B-cup, but some have started offering patterns for various cup sizes–smart!

Make a drawing! + photo of measuring a blouse

Then there are sizes. In this pattern, I opted for size Large since my bust measures 39″ and I have broad shoulders. The Medium would have been too small. a Many patterns from the traditional Big-4 companies, Simplicity, McCall’s, Butterick and Vogue, are based on sizes that DO NOT correspond to off the shelf. I am usually two sizes larger in one of these patterns than in ready to wear. Not to mention that my ready to wear, depending on the company, ranges in size from Small to Extra Large. I’m not exaggerating…we all know sizes are all over the place.

The key is to measure yourself AND measure a garment you have that fits you comfortably and looks good. Then compare those measurements to the information on the pattern. You can usually find two measurements: the size of the body and the size of the finished garment. The difference is wearing ease (see below). 

Then, measure across a blouse (make sure you compare like items, so if you are making something with woven cloth, measure a garment with woven, not knit, fabric) at the bust line. That will have anywhere from zero to 4 or more inches extra. This is called wearing ease. Some of us like very fitted, body skimming clothes, while others (like me) prefer things a bit looser or even very loose. Fitted garments tend to have 0-2″ ease, while semi-fitted are 2-4″, and roomy is even larger. If you have a flowy top that measures 52″ over a 44″ full bust, that is 8 full inches difference. Knowing that amount of easy will help you choose a pattern that will you give you the results you want! There is also something called negative ease, found in knit garments.  If you want a form-fitting garment, it will be cut 0-2 inches smaller than the finished size, then the stretch in the fabric will make it fit you snugly and show off your beautiful curves.  

Pre-shrinking fabric: This is always a debate among quilters, but for garments there is no question. If you intend to wash or clean your garment, you MUST pre-shrink! Don’t do all that work, finish the garment, love it, then have it turn one or two sizes too small after you clean it. Even woolens that will be dry cleaned need a bit of a steam press! Since most of us wear things we wash and dry (hang dry or in the dryer) at home, treat the fabric you have purchased the way you will the finished garment. If working with tricky fabrics like rayon or silk, do some self–education on the internet about how to handle them. For now I’m going to talk only about this cotton flannel top.

I’ll explain the what and why in my next post, but for now, just LOOK at this! The Dress No. 2 was made for a 41″ bust. There is indeed enough room for a bust larger than my 39″, but the shoulders were TWO FULL INCHES TOO NARROW!

Remember what I said about size, and picking Large for this top. Thankfully I made a muslin, above–
Above, the top as made per the pattern in a practice muslin to gauge the fit; I used super-cheap white cotton whose purchase price was, I think, $1 a yard which tells you how cheap it is. The shoulder seams are WAY in from the actual shoulder point, causing the shirt to pull up and strangle my armpits (yes, I DO have broad shoulders but this is crazy), which then causes the center front to ripple, not to mention feels uncomfortable. The way to figure out what needs to be done is to slice open where it is too tight. I marked the spots with a pen, took off the muslin, sliced, and put it back on. The next photo shows a gap of just one an INCH on just one shoulder!

If I had measured the pattern piece before I started cutting (smacking self upside the head) and compared it to an existing top that fits, I would have realized the problem and been able to take remedial action. But no matter what, doing a practice muslin saves money and effort in the long run. More in the next post on how I fixed it.