When I'm making things for other people I am obviously a bit of a perfectionist and am constantly looking for ways to improve the quality and presentation of whatever I am making. I firmly believe that its those finising touches that make all the difference.

So you have made your item and you have your seam the first thing you need to do is iron the seam open and flat like this -

Next you need to fold one side over into the middle like so and again iron flat

and the same with the other side

and it should look like this

 

Next you need to fold them together and again iron flat - I do use pins to hold things in place but I often find that a hot steam iron is sufficient to do the job and so saves time.

There are two ways of finishing this seam you can either sew the seam down like this:

and finished it will look like this on the inside

and if you hem after you do your seam it will look like this

and like this on the outside

It leaves an extra line of stitching on the outside next to your seam but you can also just sew the two folded edges together like this:

and sew flat against each other.

Then when you hem you still have a lovely neat finish with no stitching on the outside but with the hem not totally sewn down inside either - its personal preference whichever you feel is best for what your making.

French seams are usually used for fine fabrics or underwear but I have found them to be good for cottons and furnishing fabrics too aswell as for my dresses. They are also great for fabrics that may fray easily or that are so fine they wouldn't like an overlocker ( I must confess I dont own an overlocker nevermind know how to use one - its on my to do list) if you use them with bulkier fabrics you will end up with a bulky seam so I would have thought not great for kids jeans/trousers just on the comfort front.

Remember I am learning along with you, once I've praticed a technique and feel I can do it well enough I then do it and literally photograph each step as I go along I then edit the photos as to which are actually the most help, however if you have additional hints tips etc please dont hesitate to visit my blog and add a comment.