How to Make a Flat-Felled Seam by Hand

A flat-felled seam is durable with a double line of stitching and completely encloses the fabric's cut edge. It is commonly used on jeans and is also sometimes used on baby clothes. A sewing machine works best for this type of seam, but if you don't have access to a sewing machine you can make this strong and attractive seam finsh by hand-sewing.

Practice First

Learning a new seam finish, especially when hand sewing, is best done on fabric scraps before attempting a garment.

• To get started, use 2 rectangle pieces of fabric, about 3"x5".
• Place the squares with the wrong sides together and long sides lined up evenly.
• Use a threaded hand sewing needle to sew a line of back-stitching 5/8" from the fabric's raw edge, pick one of the long edges to get the most practice.
• Open out the body og the rectangle fabric.
• Slide the tip of a pair of scissors between the layers of the 5/8" seam.
• Trim off the top layer of seam fabric 1/4" from the seam.
• Wrap the longer, uncut seam fabric around the newly cut shorter edge and finger press it down flat against the body of the rectangle fabric.
• Use pins, if you prefer to sew with pins, or just work the fold into place as you sew if you do not enjoy using pins.
• Hand sew a scond line of back-stitching about 1/16" from the folded edge that wraps around the cut shorter edge.
• If you used pins, go ahead and remove them as you sew so you don't end up poking your hand.

Make Something

• When you are confident that you have this seam finish down, pick a pattern and some fabric and cut everything otu according to the pattern's directions.
• Instead of putting the fabric pieces together with the wrong sides out, put them together with the right sides out.
• Sew the seams in the order the directions recommend, just take the time to hand sew the flat-felled seam finish you practiced on the fabric scraps. Expect it to take a lot longer than sewing with a machine.

Flat-felled seams create a sturdy seam and they provide a polished, finished look that's hard to beat. For more information, feel free to leave a comment below or use the contact form provided.

Content prepared by Laure of Justice Writing Service.