Reading Between the Seams - Why Finish Seams?

French Seams and bias tape hem edge
From Lilacs and Liberty: An Insider's View

My guilty secret? I never used to finish my seams when sewing, as long as they weren't visible when I wore the garment.

My reasoning?
1) I was a seat-of-the-pants sewist. I hadn't taken sewing classes and had mostly learned to sew by reading instruction sheets and looking at at few books. When the instructions got around to seam finishing I just figured.... Why bother? My goal was to finish the item as quickly as possible so that I could wear it.

2) Seam  finishing seemed overly fussy to me. I figured that precision and neatness were less important than Creativity (Note which has the capital letter!).

Creativity meant sewing as many garments as possible! A couple of times when I mentioned this, a few folks (fussy folks I thought) urged me to take my time and do a "good job", I saw their remarks as patronizing. So I continued along with my own quick-as-possible style.

3) I didn't know how to do most seam finishes. I learned how to do French Seams only because I could see that sheer garments needed a seam finish, and French Seams worked for that.  If the seams were going to show when I took the item off or on, I'd line it.

4) Other than keeping my raw edges from showing when wearing or putting on a garment, I didn't see a reason for finishing seams.

You  can probably guess that I have some different ideas about why finishing seams has value these days, and that I'll continue journaling about my attitudes towards seam finishing, in future postings.

 You might also guess that changing my ideas are one of those things that keep me....

Enchanted by Sewing!

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Web Resources

Lilacs and Liberty: An Insider's View http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/03/lilacs-and-liberty-insiders-view.html

This book has really helped me to learn how to sew different seam finishes. The illustrations and descriptions are spot on!

The New Complete Guide to Sewing: Step-by-Step Techniques for Making Clothes and Home Accessories Updated Edition with All-New Projects and Simplicity Patterns (Reader's Digest)