How do you finish your garments? I have to admit that I rarely do anything special to my seams - I'll reinforce some of them, but I never use pinking sheers, and the rare times I've used a zig-zag or overlock stitch, I've hated the result. I just let them fray. Generally it isn't a problem, even though my kids wear and wear and wear the garment. It might not look great inside, but it's not the inside which is showing, iykwim. But I've always thought that I really shouldn't sew garments for others if they aren't finished inside. I was a bit embarrassed sending some pants I'd made for Tawnya's older boys, knowing that they were probably not up to most people's standards here. I felt better when I made the aprons for a swap - all those seams were inside/covered, the way I made them.

Would investing in a new pair of pinking shears, or getting my old ones sharpened, be sufficient? Is zig-zagging the way to go (I worry about the thread being too rough on a child's skin)? What other methods might be used that I haven't thought of (beyond french seams - I don't think I could handle doing french seams on trousers)?

Margaret

I'm neurotic about fraying, probably because of coming from a costuming background where it takes eight months to finish an outfit and it has to be worn hard and washed often. I either french seam, use hem lace (great around necklines and arms for baby-girl sized dresses), or add about 1/8" to my cutting lines and then go around all the pieces with a shirt-tail hem foot and a zig-zag stitch to put a little bitty rolled 'hem' around everything.

Rolled hem? Shirt tail hem foot? I need to spend more time in here.... does that foot come with most machines or would it have to be purchased separate? And is there usually a setting for rolled hem or is it a technique?

I've only done straight (mostly) and french seams (now and then) :o

TIA

I'd like to know how to do french seams, I have an idea of how to, but can't get it down..does someone have the time to explain it s-l-o-w-l-y I'll probably still have to read and re read it to get it down..although I heard its quite easy..lol:corn:

French seams (livingfree/Tracey originally posted this last year, when I was making a strippy skirt):
You sew WRONG sides together then press seam open (trim before you press if you are using a large seam allowance) then turn and sew RIGHT sides together as you normally would.

French seams - How to make (http://www.sewneau.com/how.to/french.seam.html)
http://mamafitzz.tripod.com/frenchseam.html

There's pictures of my topstitched french seams in this thread:
http://www.amitymama.com/vb/sewing-mamas/272874-i-want-make-strippy-skirt-would-anyone-care-my-sewing-buddy.html

I do not have a serger either, and have found this all very helpful!!

Margaret, your links are right, but I think you got it backwards when you typed it out. You start by sewing WST, then iron the SAs, and then sew RST to "envelope" the raw edges. :D

I looked and looked for a tutorial online that could explain how to do a shirttail hem better than I can manage, but couldn't find one. So I'll give this a try, but it may be a complete muddle.

Most sewing machines more advanced than the super-basic starter model should come with a shirttail/rolled hem foot. It looks more or less like this. (http://www.amazon.com/Rolled-Hem-Foot/dp/B00083KWSY) So snap that bad boy in place and set your stitches to a zig-zag that's wider than it is long.

Then take your fabric and put a single layer under the needle, but don't snap the foot down yet. Take the edge of your fabric and fold it over about 1/4" and fit it around that little curving bit in the foot. Carefully snap down the foot and start stitching--slowly at first. As the feed dogs advance the fabric, that curving-tunnel thing in the foot will roll the fabric until it's a very narrow double-roll and then stitch a zig-zag around it to keep it closed.

This kind of foot works way better on lightweight fabrics, and is a great way to hem circle skirts.

Reading back over this, I'm not sure these instructions make much sense, if folks are still confused and want better ones, I'll try to take some pictures and do a sew-along kind of deal that shows how it works?

Margaret, your links are right, but I think you got it backwards when you typed it out. You start by sewing WST, then iron the SAs, and then sew RST to "envelope" the raw edges. :D
LOL! That'll teach me to just cut-and-paste from the old thread... I guess the instructions were a bit mixed up. I'll edit to correct. :D

I tend to just double sew the seams and then grade the seam allowance, if I'm concerned about fraying.

If I'm making a pair of pants with a lot of seams inside - say - patchy panel pants like I did for Amy this year - I'll do french seams so they don't rub inside of little legs.