A French seam provides a great finish to many projects. In a French seam no raw edges are visible, as they all become trapped inside a small casing.

This can be a really great feature as you won’t have any frayed edges. I have found this seam to be very helpful on projects that are going to be washed a lot, which usually creates a lot of strings. I also like to use a French seam on projects in which the inside will be visible.

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To sew a French seam you actually sew twice.

You sew first with the fabric WRONG sides together. This can seem strange since we usually sew with right sides together.

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Then we trim, press, fold with the fabric RIGHT sides together and sew again along the same edge with a larger seam allowance.

Now, on both the right and wrong sides of the seam, no raw edges will be visible.

Once you get the hang of it, a French seam is fairly simple, and it’s a great skill to have in your Sewing Bag of Tricks 🙂

INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO: