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From: Lynnie
Date: 04-12-2006, 02:29 PM (1 of 10)
Ever since you guys suggested I try flat fell seams for some shorts I was making, I have fallen in love with them.  It is quickly becoming my seam of choice.I expect I will be attempting capris or pants in the next few months. Is there anyway to do flat fell seams on both sides of a pant leg with an ordinary sewing machine? Most of my jeans have one FF seam and one serged seam and I can understand why now. It seems impossible to squish up so much fabric when topstitching the second seam. Is there a trick I am missing? |
User: Lynnie
Member since: 02-23-2006 Total posts: 44 |
From: DorothyL
Date: 04-12-2006, 03:06 PM (2 of 10)
|
Lynnie - I've done it -- it's not worth it. I do the side seam last. Start at the widest end (the top) and go down as far as you can then start from the bottom and go up to where you stopped before and stitch over a couple stitches to keep them from pulling out. Someone else may have a better way. Or maybe no one else is crazy enough to try it. You could probably do it easily with shorts -- unless you are very small. Also, you might want to have the pants turned so you are sewing inside the leg, like a tunnel. With the rest of the fabric on top rather than under the machine. Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
From: paroper
Date: 04-12-2006, 08:04 PM (3 of 10)
|
Right. Turn your pants inside out and sew on the right side with the wrong side flat on the machine. Then you just, as Dorothy so aptly put it, sew into the tunnel. You just gather the pants like panty hose as you go.
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: DorothyL
Date: 04-13-2006, 08:28 AM (4 of 10)
|
Somebody else is crazy enough to try it. Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
From: paroper
Date: 04-13-2006, 08:44 AM (5 of 10)
|
Dorothy, I never said I was sane.
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: Lynnie
Date: 04-13-2006, 01:07 PM (6 of 10)
| So what kind of seams do you guys recommend for pant legs if you don't have a serger? I have really fallen in love with enclosed seams. I suppose I could flat fell one side and french seam the other. What do you usually do, or do you all have sergers? |
User: Lynnie
Member since: 02-23-2006 Total posts: 44 |
From: paroper
Date: 04-13-2006, 01:25 PM (7 of 10)
|
I have a serger. I used to just finish the seam edge, stitch it twice very close together and press it open. It has been a long time since I did that.
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: DorothyL
Date: 04-13-2006, 04:37 PM (8 of 10)
|
Before I got the serger I did a French seam on the side. I still would if it were an especially dressy pant. Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
From: AndreaSews
Date: 04-13-2006, 08:29 PM (9 of 10)
|
I've pondered this problem as well... Now that I've fiddled with a double needle for other purposes, I think I might try it next time. Depending on the fabric weight (esp denim!) a french seam could feel yucky on the inner thigh. How about sewing the inseam using a double needle. On one side, it'll be two even rows of straight stitches. On the other, it'll look quite like a serged seam. And it ought to hold onto the fibers well in order to prevent fraying. I'd press it to the back and forget about it. What do you think?
Andrea
|
User: AndreaSews
Member since: 02-18-2005 Total posts: 1007 
|
From: DorothyL
Date: 04-14-2006, 09:10 AM (10 of 10)
|
Andrea -- I always do the inseam and crotch seam with a flat fell seam and serge or do a French seam on the outside seam. Being a woman of some age and girth, I like an elastic waist (at least in the back) and those side seam pockets. It's difficult (but not impossible to get a good flat seam there but the French seams don't bother me. I serge the pocket edges before I sew them to the pants or bind the pocket edges together with bias tape. Now, with the serger, I do save time. But they don't look as good. Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
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